Re: Mind as Action

Micheal Erickson (mericks who-is-at ruralnet.net)
Thu, 17 Sep 1998 09:06:21 -0600

Fellow XMCAers, This was lost in cyberspace before Wertch's revelation as
was Mike's. But I wonder how much of Dr. Wertch's final choice of titles
was just driven by mundane matters and how much was the result of
"internalized conversation reexternalized" in the choice. I think as note=
d
below that the title might have been mundane driven at first but is reall=
y
more appropriate.

What do you think?=20

Wertsch's book is titled Mind AS Action not Mind in Action. This is very
important if one is understand the theme of mediated action and mind, whi=
ch
runs throughout the text. To me, it resonates Luria's studies-- given the=
ir
shortcomings as delineated in Mike Cole's book Cultural Psychology:

As Xmcaers know, a prot=E9g=E9 of Vygotsky, Alexander Romanovich Luria's
(1902-1977) cross-cultural studies of adult activity in Uzbekistan
document that mind is, in actuality, an artifact rather than a natural
system that is universal, static or immutable. He finds that
sociohistorical factors--particularly, schooling--enhance thinking by
moving neophytes of all ages from one form of cognition to another, highe=
r
form. He shows that people progress from the function-relational, themati=
c
thinking of the illiterate, nonschooled child/adult (contextualized
representation) toward the more categorical, taxonomic thinking of the
literate, schooled adolescent/adult (decontextualized rationality). As h=
e
notes:
The significance of schooling lies not just in the acquisition
of new knowledge, but the creation of new motives and formal
modes of discursive verbal and logical thinking divorced from
immediate practical experience. (1976, 99)
Further, he states:
Education, which radically alters the nature of cognitive activity,
greatly facilitates the transition from practical to theoretical
operations. Once people acquire education, they make increasingly
greater use of categorization to express ideas that objectively
reflect reality. (1976, 99)

Luria, Alexandre R. (1976). Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Soci=
al
Functions. Boston: Harvard University Press.

----------
> From: James Wertsch <jwertsch who-is-at artsci.wustl.edu>
> To: nate <schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu>
> Cc: XMCA <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
> Subject: re: Mind as Action
> Date: Wednesday, September 09, 1998 6:36 AM
>=20
> Actually, this might happen to a lot of people. I originally wanted to
> title this book MIND IN ACTION, but then I used that old cultural tool
> known as AMAZON.COM and found out that there are some other books aroun=
d
> with the same title. So I had to move to something else. Doing so,
> however, led me to reflect on the issue of what is in a title, and I ca=
me
> to see some new twists in thinking about mind as action instead of mind
in
> action. =20
>=20
> I find the reflections on xlchc on this issue insightful and useful, bu=
t
> the story of how I came to mind as action is, I am afraid, a little mor=
e
> mundane than what otherwise might be imagined.
>=20
> Jim
>=20
> On Wed, 9 Sep 1998, nate wrote:
>=20
> > Mind in Action rather than Mind as Action was an interesting slip
indeed.
> > The original messages in reference to Wertsch's book referred to Mind
as
> > Action. I assumed the original messages made a mistake on the title =
of
> > Wertsch's book. As I looked at my copy of Wertsch's book I reread th=
e
title
> > as Mind in Action, so the reason for the title of the thread as Mind =
in
> > Action. Upon receiving John's message of changing the thread to Mind
as
> > Action, I decided to look at Wertsch's book again and I noticed the
title
> > changed from Mind in Action to Mind as Action. Is my copy of Wertsch=
's
book
> > the only one doing this or is this also happening with other copies
> >=20
> > Nate
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > NATE SCHMOLZE
> > http://www.geocities.com/~nschmolze/
> > schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu
> >=20
> > People with great passions, people who accomplish great deeds,
> > People who possess strong feelings even people with great minds
> > and a strong personality, rarely come out of good little boys and gir=
ls
> > L.S. Vygotsky
> >=20
> >=20
>=20