Re: Initial comments on my two articles under discussion

From: Ricardo Ottoni Vaz Japiassu (rjapias@uol.com.br)
Date: Sun Apr 07 2002 - 04:31:00 PDT


Dear professor Sawyer,
I just found one article at the LCHC web site. Where can I get the one on Human Development you reffer to in your e-mail?
  -----Mensagem original-----
  De: Keith Sawyer <ksawyer@artsci.wustl.edu>
  Para: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
  Data: Sábado, 6 de Abril de 2002 20:51
  Assunto: Initial comments on my two articles under discussion

  I am delighted that members of XMCA are interested in discussing these two
  papers.

  Both articles identify unresolved issues facing socioculturalists, but
  apart from that they are quite different. The HUMAN DEVELOPMENT article is
  a historical exploration of the concept of "emergence" with the goal of
  better understanding some contemporary issues in sociocultural psychology
  and in cognitive science. Last year I circulated the manuscript of this
  article, and the responses of several colleagues led me to write the
  CULTURE & PSYCHOLOGY article (now posted on the XMCA web site and to be
  published later this year). This one is about emergence only indirectly;
  rather, I focus on different versions of two core assumptions of
  socioculturalism--inseparability of the individual and the collective, and
  a process/practice ontology--and I show how these different versions are
  analogous to a prominent debate within social theory, the debate between
  Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer. This analogy leads me to conclude
  that these different versions may be irreconcilable.

  I believe that discussion of these tensions and unresolved issues can be
  constructive and productive; my intention is not to criticize or "prove
  wrong" any particular theorist or stance. I have learned from, and been
  influenced by, all of the important theorists that I comment on. We are
  unified in our attempt to move psychology beyond methodological
  individualism and our desire to integrate society and culture in our work.
  I think that there are elements of truth in all of these positions, and
  that these tensions have been productive for our paradigm. As Mike says,
  "in diversity there is hope."

  R. Keith Sawyer

  http://www.keithsawyer.com/
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Education
  Washington University
  Campus Box 1183
  St. Louis, MO 63130
  314-935-8724



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