Re: garbled history

From: King Beach (kdbeach@pilot.msu.edu)
Date: Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:51:26 PDT


Good points all. I agree that that there is evidence of Dewey's
influence on Vygotsky through various means. What I was
suggesting--perhaps poorly stated--was that even if the two did have
a direct dialogue, there is no evidence that THAT dialogue influenced
anything in either's work. This is particularly true against the
background of other less direct routes of influence on each other
through texts, and folks like Blonsky, whom Mike mentioned. Having
said this, the different variations on pragmatism that developed in
the 1890's in the U.S., shifted to Europe with the increasing
influence of behaviorism, and has experienced a gradual "rebirth" in
the U.S. at roughly the same time as CHAT has become influential
here. I suspect there are some some larger societal reasons for this
conjunction. I also suspect that some of the connections that we see
between Vygotsky and Dewey are a relatively recent function of this.

I want to put in a brief plug for Valsiner and van der Veer's book,
*The social mind: Construction of the idea* (Cambridge, 2000). In it
they take on the garbled history and intellectual interdependencies
(their term) of a social view of mind, including the pragmatists and
Vygotsky.

Cheers,

King

>this is easy to discover. dewey's influence on vygotsky can be
>observed, even if they didn't meet each one, probably vygotsky read
>dewey's work.
>maria
>
>-----Mensagem original-----
>De: Ricardo Ottoni Vaz Japiassu
><<mailto:rjapias@uol.com.br>rjapias@uol.com.br>
>Para: <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
><<mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>Data: Sexta-feira, 19 de Abril de 2002 17:54
>Assunto: Re: garbled history
>
>If they meet one another it has not been proved. But, a carefull
>reading of Vygotsky's Educational Psychology will let one conclude
>he had, ideed, be strongly influenced by Dewey's ideas on children
>school education.
>
>-----Mensagem original-----
>De: King Beach <<mailto:kdbeach@pilot.msu.edu>kdbeach@pilot.msu.edu>
>Para: <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
><<mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>Data: Sexta-feira, 19 de Abril de 2002 14:56
>Assunto: Re: garbled history
>
>I agree with Mike and Jim on this. Prawat assumes that given shared
>geography and timing, Dewey and Vygotsky must have met when Dewey
>visited Russia, but he has found no direct evidence of such a
>meeting, nor, if there was such a meeting, that they influenced each
>other. I have argued with Dick, who is a colleague here, that some
>broader interpretations of CHAT seem to be run through a filter of
>American pragmatism (Dewey, Mead, and perhaps James) but that this
>influence is mediated by others and has taken place after the
>originating parties were long gone.
>
>--King
>
>
>>The entire issue of Dewey, Vygotsky, Russia, etc is horribly garbled.
>>Prawat is a fine scholar, but his imagining as about dewey and vygotsky
>>meeting are neither necessary nor plausible.
>>
>>Bruce-- On the other hand, it is well documetned that Dewey went to the
>>USSR.
>>
>>All-- Tread cautiously on disputed, twisted, and contentious historical
>>narratives. (This caution applies not only to the case at hand, as we
>>have been properly warned by reminders of memory of the turkish
>>extermination of Armenians-- also, I am sure, a contentious "truth."
>>mike
>
>
>--
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>King Beach
>
>Transitions Research Group (TRG) Office: 441 Erickson Hall
>Program in Learning, Technology, and Culture Voice: 517-355-6684
>College of Education Fax: 517-353-6393
>Michigan State University Email: <mailto:kdbeach@msu.edu>kdbeach@msu.edu
>East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA Web:
><http://www.msu.edu/user/kdbeach/>www.msu.edu/user/kdbeach/

-- 
________________________________________________________________________________

King Beach

Transitions Research Group (TRG) Office: 441 Erickson Hall Program in Learning, Technology, and Culture Voice: 517-355-6684 College of Education Fax: 517-353-6393 Michigan State University Email: kdbeach@msu.edu East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA Web: www.msu.edu/user/kdbeach/



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