Abstract

This dissertation considers the themes of evolution and learning in their biological, social and psychological dimensions, focusing on the representative evolutionary and developmental theories of Marx, Piaget and Habermas. The works of these thinkers were chosen for several reasons. First, they provide an unusually comprehensive array of social, biological and psychological theories of development and evolution. Second, these theorists are linked not only by their parallel concerns with evolutionary and developmental processes, but also by the philosophical approach they take to their subjects; all three are explicitly responsive to the tradition of dialectical thinking, although each regards this tradition in a somewhat different way. Thus, a consideration of these three theorists together has both a substantive and a structural coherence. And finally, Habermas has explicitly pointed to what he calls homologies between Marxian historical materialism and the developmental logic uncovered by the Piagetian research tradition; Habermas's own comparison of Marx and Piaget invites an evaluation from the perspective of an independent reading of the latter two authors. ;In order to establish the philosophical links among Marx, Piaget and Habermas, the dissertation first goes back to Hegel, elucidating certain structures of Hegel's dialectical thought that will also be significant in the people more primarily under consideration. Then, in the chapter on Marx, it is shown how dialectical thinking structures Marx's conception of social evolution; and in the following chapter it is shown how a similar way of thinking structures Piaget's conception of the evolution and functioning of human intelligence. The chapter on Piaget pays particular attention to Piaget's later philosophical and biological writings, and it closes with a sketch of some parallels or homologies between Piagetian cognitive development and Marx's discussion of the development of industrial capitalism in Capital. ;From here, there is an exposition of the homologies that Habermas sees between Marxism and Kohlberg's Piagetian developmental logic. But the conclusion is that while the project of synthesizing Piagetian and Marxian approaches is worthwhile, Habermas is thwarted in his attempt to carry it out by underestimating the resiliency of the Marxian and Piagetian systems. ;Beyond clarifying the relationships among Marx, Piaget and Habermas, this project also aims to illuminate several other areas, including discussions of Marxist and dialectical approaches to evolutionary theory, and the construction of a more unified approach to phenomena calling for a combination of these perspectives, such as sexuality, ritual, religion, health, culture and emotion. The comparison of biological and cultural evolution in the first chapter was motivated by these concerns, as well as by a desire to locate the interests of Marx, Piaget and Habermas in the context of other work in their areas. In this regard, the dissertation involves an ongoing defense of the claims of evolutionism against relativism. ;The conclusion of the dissertation, after reviewing the overall argument, considers the political importance of an evolutionary perspective, and critically evaluates the significance of some recent efforts, such as by the Club of Rome, to politicize the learning process. It briefly discusses the work of other theorists interested in the conjuncture of society, biology and psychology from a Marxist perspective, such as Vygotsky and Luria; and it closes with a sketch of problems that remain for a theoretical synthesis "with a practical intent" of social, psychological and biological evolutionary and developmental theory