[Xmca-l] Re: Hegelian sources of CHAT
Andy Blunden
andyb@marxists.org
Sat Sep 21 18:03:44 PDT 2019
Yes, for all his faults I regard Leontyev's Activity Theory
as an integral part of "Cultural Historical Activity
Theory." But Hegel, Marx, Vygotsky, Leontyev, none of them
are infallible or beyond criticism.
I stand by my surprising finding that Vygotsky never read
Hegel, and Semyon Dobkin's testimony is the sole documentary
evidence to the contrary, but as I say in that 2009 article,
Dobkin's recollections are not be taken at face value. If
anything, what he actually says is further evidence that
Vygotsky only knew Hegel secondhand. But what second hands!
We are still waiting for your prophecy of Vygotsky's
annotations on the Phenomenology turning up in his archives.
The 2009 paper traces every comment by Vygotsky about Hegel
(bar maybe one or two) back to a secondary source. As I say
there it is possible that Vygotsky read a passage by Hegel
in the small section of the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit
entitled "Psychology." And I suggest that his Hegelianism
dates mainly from 1930 with earlier writings exhibiting
distinct unfamiliarity with Hegel.
Which leaves us with the question of whether Leontyev ever
read Hegel. The implications of this for documentary
research reach light years beyond my capacities. There is no
evidence in his most famous writings, the ones I have read,
and as you, plenty of evidence that he did not understand
Hegel. The only one of the 4 concepts which is uniquely
Leontyev's is the actions/activities distinction and it is
likely (in my opinion) that he discovered this
independently, with the guidance of Marx and Vygotsky at
hand. If it were my purpose, I could just as easily write an
essay on the differences between Leontyev's Activity Theory
and Hegel's Theory of Action. But that was not my purpose.
Looking forward to your comments on academia.edu, too,
David. Thank you.
Andy
https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/Vygotskys-Hegelianism.pdf
------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Hegel for Social Movements <https://brill.com/view/title/54574>
Home Page <https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm>
On 22/09/2019 9:12 am, David Kellogg wrote:
> Andy--
>
> Two of the four foundational concepts (viz., number 2 and
> number 3) are Leontiev's and not Vygotsky's, and you are
> the author of a very perceptive and penetrating critique
> of Leontiev's critique of Vygotsky on precisely these two
> questions (The Problem of the Environment).
>
> Also, the paper you link asserts in more than one
> place that Vygotsky never read Hegel at all. The evidence
> you offer to prove the negative is a paper you wrote ten
> years ago (which argues an absence of positive evidence).
>
> But this goes against the testimony of his gynmasium
> friend Dobkin, suggests that he was a very laid back
> student at Shanyavsky University where he took courses in
> German philosophy, and also runs afoul of remarks by both
> Lucien Seve and yourself about the obvious synergy.
>
> So I gather this too is an older paper that doesn't
> reflect your current thinking. Perhaps you could begin by
> telling us how your thinking has changed and why.
>
> David Kellogg
> Sangmyung University
>
> New Article:
> Han Hee Jeung & David Kellogg (2019): A story without
> SELF: Vygotsky’s
> pedology, Bruner’s constructivism and Halliday’s
> construalism in understanding narratives by
> Korean children, Language and Education, DOI:
> 10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663
> To link to this article:
> https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663
>
> Some e-prints available at:
> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KHRxrQ4n45t9N2ZHZhQK/full?target=10.1080/09500782.2019.1582663
>
> The evidence to prove the negative is a paper you wrote in
> 2009.
>
> On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 6:26 AM Peter Feigenbaum
> <pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu <mailto:pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu>>
> wrote:
>
> Andy,
>
> You have raised four truly excellent questions for
> discussion by CHAT members. Each will be a
> significant challenge, but well worth the effort.
>
> Peter F
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 21, 2019 at 7:29 AM Carol Macdonald
> <carolmacdon@gmail.com <mailto:carolmacdon@gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> Well you can definitely count me in but probably
> something of an observer.
>
> On Sat, 21 Sep 2019, 07:37 Andy Blunden,
> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>>
> wrote:
>
> I'd dearly like to get some discussion going
> on this:
>
> It will be shown that at least four
> foundational concepts of Cultural
> Historical Activity Theory were previously
> formulated by Hegel, viz., (1) the unit of
> analysis as a key concept for
> analytic-synthetic cognition, (2) the
> centrality of artifact-mediated actions,
> (3) the definitive distinction between
> goal and motive in activities, and (4) the
> distinction between a true concept and a
> pseudoconcept.
>
> https://www.academia.edu/s/7d70db6eb3/the-hegelian-sources-of-cultural-historical-activity-theory
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.academia.edu_s_7d70db6eb3_the-2Dhegelian-2Dsources-2Dof-2Dcultural-2Dhistorical-2Dactivity-2Dtheory&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=mXj3yhpYNklTxyN3KioIJ0ECmPHilpf4N2p9PBMATWs&m=vDFwyKGgEf7eFoYWTrK6zFxttCocQ33HK63G5-JAgss&s=l0Rq4uzrNELUyhAfo1svIH9pfIihzqiHhIql5QGyI30&e=>
>
> Andy
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> Hegel for Social Movements
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__brill.com_view_title_54574&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=mXj3yhpYNklTxyN3KioIJ0ECmPHilpf4N2p9PBMATWs&m=vDFwyKGgEf7eFoYWTrK6zFxttCocQ33HK63G5-JAgss&s=1ON5BrG-gyMV6NfucCZytnldYUuctDPFzAM2UT58zxA&e=>
> Home Page
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ethicalpolitics.org_ablunden_index.htm&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=mXj3yhpYNklTxyN3KioIJ0ECmPHilpf4N2p9PBMATWs&m=vDFwyKGgEf7eFoYWTrK6zFxttCocQ33HK63G5-JAgss&s=5lCL5_nPk7GLyhrRUfcpKUb5dQ-3OsRemzlWiwqa-TU&e=>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
> Director,
> Office of Institutional Research
> <https://www.fordham.edu/info/24303/institutional_research>
> Fordham University
> Thebaud Hall-202
> Bronx, NY 10458
>
> Phone: (718) 817-2243
> Fax: (718) 817-3817
> email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu
> <mailto:pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu>
>
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