Mike pointed to terminological problems in the English translation. I
think this is important and obviously quite decisive for
understanding. I cannot Russian, so my proposal supported by the
German translation I have available may prove wrong. But I think also
from content we should clearly differentiate between "objective"
(German "objektiv") and "object related" or "objectal" (German
"gegenstaendlich"). "Objectal" is not in the dictionaries. Boesch
used it in his1991 Action Theory and Cultural Psychology and other
papers; it is formed in analogy to space / spatial, time / temporal,
physis or physics / physical, psyche / psychical (!) etc. and means
simply "in relation to an objects or to objects, i.e. things.
Paul is formally right when he says the adjective of "object" is
"objective". My now preferred dictionary and thesaurus Wordsmyth
(http://www.wordsmyth.net) gives for "objective" as an adjective:
Definition 1. not influenced by personal prejudice or feelings; unbiased.
Example I examined her problem in the most objective way I could.
Synonyms fair1 (1) , unprejudiced , unbiased , impartial
Crossref. Syn. sober , neutral , just , dispassionate , disinterested
Similar Words open-minded , detached , impersonal , evenhanded ,
neutral , equitable , just , dispassionate , disinterested
Definition 2. having reality or tangible existence independent
of the observer.
Synonyms real1 (1) , actual (1) , tangible (1,2)
Similar Words palpable , physical , corporeal , material
Definition 3. of or pertaining to an object.
Definition 4. in grammar, denoting or concerning the case of a
word used as the object of a verb or preposition.
In addition it gives for "objective" as a noun:
Definition 1. a goal or purpose toward which one's efforts are
directed; aim.
Definition 2. in optical instruments such as telescopes and
microscopes, the lens closest to the object being observed.
Definition 3. in grammar, the objective case, or a word form in
this case, such as "them".
Our English translation gives "obective activity" wherever the German
one uses "gegenstaendliche Taetigkeit". To translate that with
objective is misleading if the German translation is correct in
relation to the Russian original, because "objective" suggests the
meanings 1 or 2 above, whereas it may simply mean an activity that is
object related and so implying meaning 3: of or pertaining to an
object. This would indeed a great difference to be respected and
essential to be visible in translations.
The term "turning" is not rendered in the German version. In these
places it simply speaks of Interiorisation, using same Latin word as
in English. In the paragraph on top of p. 59 L. speaks of
"transformation":
In recent years successive stages and conditions
of purposeful, "nonspontaneous" transformation of external (materialized)
actions into internal (mental) actions have been studied especially
carefully by P. Ya. Gal'perin.
Alfred
-- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alfred Lang, Psychology, Univ. Bern, Switzerland --- alfred.lang@psy.unibe.ch Website: http://www.psy.unibe.ch/ukp/langpapers/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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