Vygotsky sources
Dot Robbins (dot_robbins who-is-at hotmail.com)
Mon, 22 Dec 1997 13:05:13 PST
Regarding Diane Celia Hodges' message, an interesting point was made.
Many of us in the West tend to "assume" the political stance of
Russia during the 1920s, and often equate that with later political
events of Russia. It is often forgotten how intellectual stimulating the
1920s must have been around the world. Sometimes two elements are left
out of the equation, regarding Vygotsky:
one being the philosophical Marxism Vygotsky read since his teen years,
and the second point including the vast readings of philosophy,
psychology, etc. used as sources from the West. In other words, it
appears
that in many respects in this country, there has often been a
"de-Marxification" (sorry) of Vygotsky, with an accompanying
"de-Westernization" of his sources, sometimes assuming that socialism
was THE source.
Rosa and Montero (p. 76) in Moll "Vygotsky and education: instructional
implications and applications of sociohistorical psychology." Cambridge,
England: Cambridge university Press)state: "Vygotsky's sources were,
mainly, German, Russian, and North American. Authors frequently quoted
were Wundt, Brentano, Stumpf, Ebbinghaus, Ach, Meinong, Lipps, Stern,
Husserl, Binswanger, Dilthey, Munsterberg, Freud, Adler, Uexkull,
Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka, among the Germans; Chelpanov, Bekhterev,
Pavlov, Kornilov, Blonski, and Vagner, among the Russians; and James,
Dewey, Balwin, Thorndike, and Watson, among the North Americans.
Together with these authors, psychologists of diverse nationalities are
also quoted, such as Titchener, Claparede, Janet, and Piaget. There are
also references to physicists of the time such as Einstein and Planck."
Of course, this summary in no way covers the list of sources Vygotsky
read, including Spinoza, Russian Formalists, authors in aesthetics,
art, poetry, and theater (such as Stanislavsky), film (Eisenstein); or
in linguistics, such as Yukubinsky, Spet, Potebnya; and A. von Humboldt
in philosophy, etc. etc. etc.
Articles have appeared by European Vygotskian scholars reviewing and
explaining some of the sources Vygotsky read, which is important in
understanding him. It is also interesting to read international
journals, such as "Journal of Genetic Psychology" 1929,with articles by
Buhler, Claparede, Pavlov, Willian Stern, Thorndike, Watson, Luria, and
an article by Vygotsky. In one issue Vol.XXXVI, Dorothea McCarthy writes
articles, where one can actually see points Vygotsky might have used in
developing his own concepts; indeed, he gave McCarthy credit for some of
his understanding of the ZPD.
Wishing all of you a festive and joyous holiday season. Dot
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