In my view, there is Bakhtin's interesting critique of dialectics calling it
"killed, monologized dialogue." Bakhtin is much more postmodern than
Vygotsky who build his theory on Hegel and Marx emphasizing dialectics,
history, and universal progress.
As to who wrote what, I believe that Bakhtin wrote what he signed by his
names. Although he heavily influenced the writings signed by Medvedev and
Voloshinov, I do not consider those writings as fully Bakhtin's because they
were clearly shaped by Marxism unlike Bakhtin's writings (who criticized
Marxism both in his early papers -- directly and in his late papers --
indirectly). I know that many people disagree with my judgment.
I think that it is really productive to explore difference between Bakhtin
and Vygotsky rather than to try to find similarities (which is possible and
legitimate as well).
What do you think?
Eugene
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Cole [mailto:mcole@weber.ucsd.edu]
> Sent: Sunday, November 14, 1999 1:39 PM
> To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Bakhtin and Vygotsky
>
>
>
> Nibbling at this feast of discussion:
>
> Robert following up on Eugene's note (which I hope to return to!) wrote:
>
> Given your close association with her, I also take you to be an authority
> on the following point:
> " I know that Barbara Rogoff was heavily influenced by Bakhtin in
> development of her concept of "appropriation." " Someone told me that as
> far as they know, Vygotsky and Bakhtin, despite being contemporaries,
> never actually interacted or cited one another's work. I wonder, therefore
> why so many Vygotskian scholars in the USA have taken to citing both of
> them together ? Is this because they share some elements of a specifically
> Russian cultural frame of reference ?
>
> All of this is very complicated by who wrote what under whose name in the
> "Bakhtin circle." Voloshinov is one good candidate for a "ventriloquated
> Bakhtin." And Voloshinov wrote critically of Luria on Freud.
>
> My own view is that the basic notions of Bakhtin and Vygotsky-Luria (I
> don't know about Leontiev in this connection) on mediation are
> VERY similar,
> at times almost as if they were intellectual cousins, one drawing on
> religious metaphysics, one on modernist secularist metaphysics.
>
> I would be really interested in examples of direct disagreements beyond
> Luria's early essay on freud.
>
> mike