:( I am quite incapable of holding my tongue ...The Problem of Age: http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1934/problem-age.htm
This document tells me that LSV is concerned with the development of the child, together with its social situation, through a series of about 7 periods; each period is characterised by a distinctive role within a characteristic system of activity called a social situation od development, i.e., activity instantiating a particular, unique concept of a person in the given social formation: nfant, child, schoolkid, etc. The periods are separated by periods of crisis, the passage through which requires a complete reorganization of the psychic functions and the forms of activity through which that mode of psychological functions exists, different expectations, responsibilities, etc.
This is not to say that nothing else matters. But to a huge extent, successful passage through these critical periods is crucial to the achievement of a normal development into adult citizenship in the given social formation. How does it all read if we assume that it is this which LSV is talking about when he talks about development? Not "development" in general, but the re-organization of the psyche along with the re-organization of those specific collaborative relationships with others through which the child's life needs are met in the given social formation?
If the child learns to read, that will have a huge effect on their thinking, and widen the horizons of their activity, but the question is: does this facilitate their movement from pre-school childhood to school? etc., etc. That is, in any given society there are a finite series of roles a person can occupy before the world opens up for them to the point where they are an independent citizen (if they are lucky enough to enjoy that privilege at all).
Does that help? Is there a paragraph we can tackle? Andy mike cole wrote:
Thanks all for the specification of textual origins, they help a lot.With respect to bicycle riding which I have been thinking about while being bus driver and busboy for my grandkids: I can see how it runs into trouble because chimps can acquire the ability to ride a bike and LSV's focus on on higher psychological functions. However, it seems to have a lot of the properties he invokes to hold onto the specifically human/higher psych functions. If it does not count, then I guess that the shift from crawling to walking does not qualify as a microgenetic/developmental change either. Is that a correct interpretation of LSV? It rules out any developmental change between birth and the acquistion of language doesn't it? If so, the scope of the term, development, with respect to LSV and ontogeny differs from my own views.Since qualitative change in the organization of sensory-motor behavior appear off the table when discussing HIGHER psych functions, might you turn your scalpels to the acquisition of the ability to read a phonetic alphabet fluently? How am I going wrong in believing that acquisition of reading is a developmental process in which learning also plays an essential role that shifts in the course off acquisition?mikePS- I will only be online occaisionally in the coming week owing to travel and ucsd startup. Thanks again for the helpful input.On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:Just to pick up on your comment, David: kellogg wrote: (See also Vygotsky's discussion of ways of translating Hegel into Russian on p. 81 of Vol. 4, Andy!) If the translator of LSVCW had read Lenin's annotations on Hegel this passage might hve been clearer. It is a direct allusion to Lenin on how to translate "aufheben" though it is actually the editor's footnote which is usually quoted! http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/cons-logic/ch01.htm#f20 Andy __________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Andy Blunden* Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts __________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca