At 02:16 AM 6/27/96 -0400, Ana M. Shane wrote:
>By the way - Vygotsky also wrote in teh same article something I puzzle over
>for years: He said: "I believe that play is not symbolic action in the
>proper sense of the term, so it becomes essential to show the role of
>motivation in play" (Mind in Society, p 94). As for "symbolic action in the
>proper sense" I believe he meant **system of signs that generalize
>reality... like algebra**.
>I just puzzle over that, because, most of the time, even when we take the
>motivation into account, we usually think of play as symbolic activity.
>
>I am just throwing this thought into the arena...
I think Ana found an interesting quote from Vygotsky. Here are my 10 cents
to contribute. My reading of Vygotsky is that he wanted to stress that for
children's pretend play, unlike for algebra, the process that occurs "here
and know" (i.e., local emergent circumstances + improvisation) is extremely
important (especially for motivation).
Eugene Matusov
UCSC
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Eugene Matusov
Psychology Department
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
office (408) 459-5180
fax (415) 493-8917
e-mail: ematusov who-is-at cats.ucsc.edu
http://www2.ucsc.edu/people/ematusov
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