Elina, we seem to agree that cultural meanings are not uniform, but, among
other things, are activity specific. For example, the meaning shared among
physicists for the word "momentum" means something very different than it
does the athletic team coach and players on a winning streak, and even then,
among physicists, "momentum" functionally depends upon whether one is doing
classical physics, quantum mechanics, or special relativity, each with it's
own mathematical definition and methods, the lexicon and grammar of physics.
In a spin on an activity theoretic perspective; culture, social practice, and
"the countinuity of experience of human association" are mutual constitutive.
If one makes this spin, it's difficult to parse the distinctions you have
made between Dewey and Vygotsky. It's not even clear it's necessary if one
wishes to stand on their shoulders, rather than stand between them.
bb
On Tuesday 14 March 2006 4:00 pm, Elina Lampert-Shepel wrote:
> About re-discovering the wheels...:-) Do wheels change when they
> become a part of different vehicles? Correct me if I am wrong, but
> I thought that for Vygotsky meanings were cultural and discovered
> and transformed in the course of human activity while for Dewey
> they are social and embedded in the countinuity of experience of
> human association, and are created. Anyway, do we discover or
> create meanings in joint mediated activity?
> Elina
>
> Quoting bb <xmca-whoever@comcast.net>:
> > On Tuesday 14 March 2006 11:12 am, Mike Cole wrote:
> > > "Things gain meaning by being used in a shared experience or
> >
> > joint
> >
> > > action." - John Dewey
> >
> > Re-discovery naught. Now I appreciate Dewey, but it's a nice
> > quote because it
> > is such an over-generalization that it applies to every thing,
> > everyone, and
> > everywhere. Of this kind of statement, Bierce wrote "A thought
> > that snores in
> > words that smoke."
> >
> > bb
> > _______________________________________________
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> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
> Elina Lampert-Shepel
> Assistant Professor
> Graduate School of Education
> Mercy College New Teacher Residency Program
> Mercy College
> 66 West 35th Street
> New York, NY 10001
> (212) 615 3367
>
> I have on my table a violin string. It is free. I twist one end of
> it and it responds. It is free. But it is not free to do what a
> violin string is supposed to do - to produce music. So I take it,
> fix it in my violin and tighten it until it is taut. Only then it
> is free to be a violin string.
> Sir Rabindranath Tagore.
>
>
>
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