Eugene responded to Jay's comment on January 3rd with:
>Because boundaries between activity situations are not fully "out there"
>either,
>I think one of possible solutions of the problem stated by Jay is to
>consider a broader activity >system (i.e., a "trans-situation") that
>includes the two situations as its phases or moments in the >newly defined
>activity. This methodological "trick" can help to avoid the mechanical
>notion of >"linkage" and "transfer." What do you think?
The methodological problem of how one relates the sense of continuity in
individual identity and development through seqential or collateral
participation in multiple activities, activities that themselves develop,
is one that several of us have been struggling with here. We too have
considered some sort of "tran-situation" unit of analysis, but found
ourselves creating a whole series of nested units of analysis that, in and
of themselves, left the initial methodological problem unresolved. We have
begun to suspect that a possible methodological resolution lies more in the
area of defining a developmental unit that IS the coupling between persons
and activities over time, along the lines described by Varela, Thompson,
and Rosch (The Embodied Mind, 1992, MIT Press) and by Maturana in
evolutionary biology.
Cheers,
King
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King Beach Phones: (517) 353-0637/7863
Sociocultural Research Group Fax: (517) 353-6393
448 Erickson Hall Email: kdbeach who-is-at msu.edu
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Michigan State University Web: http://www.educ.msu.edu/units
East Lansing, MI 48824-1034 USA /Groups/SocCult/SCRG.html
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