Re: dialectics and CHAT

vera p john-steiner (vygotsky who-is-at unm.edu)
Wed, 8 May 1996 21:28:14 -0600 (MDT)

Arne,
There was no chance for a dialectically oriented theory of psychology in
the USA in the late sixties and early seventies, nevertheless, we worked
on Mind in Society. The postscript that I wrote with Ellen Souberman was
considered very poor by many of my closest friends, and perhaps it is,
but it tried to address the challenge of thinking in ways that emphasize
unification as a developmental process, quantitative and qualitative
changes, etc. I think that it had an impact on some.
We have just finished an article for the Educational Psychologist, a very
mainstream publication in which we have a short section on Ilyenkov, it
was cut back because the readers, in several cycles of criticism wanted
none of it, but a small section survived. It should be out in September
and we will circulate it. It is hard for me to think of
historical-cultural theory without a central role for dialectics.
And I do hope that Germany, the historical home of Hegel, Marx and
Engels, is not a totally closed forum for the varied re-interpretations
of dialectical thought and progressive action in a new and saddened,
informed, and transformed sense of what is being explored in countries
such as Brazil, and in some form even in Hungary and Poland, etc.
Vera

On Mon, 6 May 1996,
Arne Raeithel wrote:

> Vera,
>
> there are many historical variants of "dialectics", before Hegel
> and after Marx, and of course Hegel's work. I regard these essentially
> as precursors of today's theories of evolution, history and development.
> It is not possible to "have" a cultural-historical theory without
> a conception of history and development, of course.
>
> I believe that today's students would profit much from reading the
> historical sources, but I am sure that studying specific developmental
> or historical problems is much more fruitful than those very general
> texts on dialectics as a meta-logical tool for understanding every-
> thing vaguely as everchanging because of internal contradictions.
> I am not saying that you would advocate using them, to be sure.
> They were quite widespread here in Germany in the early seventies,
> and I am glad they aren't available anymore. They caused a lot of
> unjustified superiority feelings ("we have the better theory"), but
> didn't help in any specific way those doing research, as far as I know.
>
> In any case, here, at present, there is no chance for Marx or Engels.
>
> Arne.
>
>
>
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Vera P. John-Steiner
Department of Linguistics
Humanities Bldg. 526
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-6353 or 277-4324
Internet: vygotsky who-is-at triton.unm.edu
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