Leontev: Initially, cognition of the properties of the object world that
are beyond the limits of direct sensory cognition is the unpremeditated
result of actions directed to a practical purpose, that is, actions
included in work activity of people.
Bill: [work activity here, being (in my take) *that which expends effort*.
This includes "thinking" of the individual-centered psychologist sense,
that is often mediated materially : as an example, planning efforts.]
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Andy: Surely this can only dilute the idea, and bring us back to a confused
blur. The previous discussion on Ilyenkov and the ideal is vital here.
To equate "work" with its meaning in mechanics, means that included in work
in this context is fucking, jumping out of the way of a car, breathing,
etc., activities which do *not* go beyond sensory perception. I agree with
you that mental activity that is part of work is work, but what is "work"?
What are these "properties of the object world that are beyond the limits
of direct sensory cognition"? Surely they are the "ideal" properties, those
properties of objects which are socially produced, like the value of the
object, its name, its use and so on. Work is that activity which is
oriented by these ideals, i.e., is carried out as part of and serving
social relations of production, in the broadest possible definition thereof.
Of course, the essentially creative character of work means that it is very
difficult to describe any boundary for it! An athlete's breathing exercises
could be 'work' in this sense, or an artists dreaming, ...
Andy
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| - Andy Blunden - Home Page - http://home.mira.net/~andy/index.htm - |
| All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational |
| solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.|
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