Piaget and modernity: Considerations on the constitution of subject

Abstract

Can one speak on autonomous subjectivity today? This article presents a completed research which aimed to analyze the project of modernity and the constitution of the subject. It was a theoretical / bibliographical research and its analysis was based on Piagetian ethical / moral psychology and on the effects of modernity and postmodernity on subjectivity. The results reported that modern society made possible the emergence of the autonomous subject, that is, a being that seeks to act according to its decisions the long as it experiences cooperative relationships, because only these allow the free exchange of perspectives and, therefore, the exercise of reciprocity. However, the current scenario has not been potentially unbalanced, to the point of hampering the establishment of cooperative relationships. At least it is what the social capitalist order tries to instill through the report of the ideology that everything is under its control. As a result, it may seem problematic to defend Piagetian's thesis about the priori moral - in one way or another, it will move towards genuine solidarity. This notion leads to the concept of dialectics, because his theory evidences the idea that every statement (assimilation) carries within itself the germ of its contradiction (accommodation). It is from this perspective that one can think the individual / society relationship and the construction of autonomy.