[Xmca-l] Re: Cultural historical

[David H Kirshner]

I hope this question is addressed. 
Language is different from technology in the sense that it has not been designed by humans (who still struggle to understand it's structures). 
Of course, a rock which is used as a weapon also has not been designed by humans.
Still, in picking up a rock to use as a weapon, the wielder is cognizant of its size and shape, and uses it deliberatively and strategically. 
In some cases, language is used in a similar deliberative and strategic sense to accomplish ends. But as I understand it, the Vygotskian understanding of language as a tool references language in its non-deliberative and strategic deployment, so the usual prescriptions that apply to understanding tools and technologies does not apply.  
David


-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> On Behalf Of Glassman, Michael
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2018 9:13 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Cultural historical

Isn't spoken language a technology?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2018 9:08 AM
To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Cultural historical

The thing that intrigues me  is that it seems that spoken language pre-dates (at 150-350,000 years ago) the rapid development in technology.
I thought the migration patterns were pretty well settled by now, and that "hobbit" found in Flores is a diversion),

Andy

------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
ttp://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm
On 19/03/2018 11:50 PM, David Kellogg wrote:
> Somewhere in the discussion of Monica and Fernando's article, Fernando 
> made the remark that history does not know "ifs". Similarly, Monica 
> implied at one point that large technological changes must be taken as 
> given; they are not something over which humans have control. But even 
> if we accept the "Out of Africa" story which this article undermines, 
> we are left with the apparently conscious decision of early hominids 
> to leave the home continent, something none of the other great apes ever determined upon.
> Vygotsky remarked that rudiments of all four forms of higher 
> behavior--instinct, enculturation, creativity, and free will that is 
> none of these--appear even in infancy. So it appears that free will 
> was always part of anthropogenesis, and consequently that 
> history--including present history--knows nothing but ifs. We just 
> don't see the others because we are sitting in one of them.
>
> David Kellogg
> Sangmyung University
>
> Recent Article in *Early Years*
>
> The question of questions: Hasan’s critiques, Vygotsky’s crises, and 
> the child’s first interrogatives 
> <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2018.1431874>
>
> Free e-print available at:
> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6EeWMigjFARavQjDJjcW/full
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 7:33 AM, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
>> This synoptic story of the current state of research on human origins 
>> seems relevant to the cultural-historical folks around.
>> mike
>>
>> https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/human-evolution-
>> australia-asia/?utm_source=SAPIENS.org+Subscribers&utm_
>> campaign=1b31c25316-Email+Blast+12.22.2017&utm_medium=
>> email&utm_term=0_18b7e41cd8-1b31c25316-199570669
>>