Dear colleagues
Why it took (and will take) so long to bake the scientific psychology
(Marxist psychology as Vygotsky put it) cake: Some historical analysis of
the recipe and its ingredients
In the history of philosophical thought, no philosopher has successed to
put his entire oeuvres in two pages than Karl Marx. By that I mean the
Theses on Feuerbach. I am convinced that these two pages are of equal
importance to Descartes's Discourse on Method, Kant's Critique of Pure
Reason, and Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind. These two pages pose in
incompromising manner the premises of a scientific psychology (synonymous
to Marxist psychology as Vygotsky put it). Let me remind our colleagues
that Leontiev's chapter 5 was rewritten (here I need Anna's help), the
first version was radically modified in the light of the discussions which
took place in Paris.
In the mid 1960s (1965-1975) there has been a wide open debate about the
concept of personality in Marxist psychology. The Marxist discussions of
the concept of personality was triggerd by the use of false concepts in
Marxist psychology. Thes concepts were integrated blindly by psychologists
inspired by marxism in the West and Soviet Union. What we learn from that
extensive discussions which was centered on The six thesis on Feuerbach is
that "personality is the ensemble of the social relations" (Carl stated
this in a very precise and adequate form in his extensive works on activity
theory and cultural psychology). Leontiev was at that time in Paris and he
followed closely that debates. The chapter Five absorbed many ideas from
that debates ( for more information about the evolution of Leontiev's
concept of personality see his communication to the 16th International
Congress of Psychology, Bonn 1960, his lecture at Henri Pieron Institute of
Psychology, Paris, May 8, 1967, his speech of inauguration to the 18
International Congress of Psychology, Moscow, 1966, his paper to the 14th
International Congress of Psychology, Montreal 1954 and the most important
his extensive discussions with Henri Wallon and Rene Zazzo ( in their last
postings Mike and Anna give us a good insight to the historical development
of CHAT. What Mike said is very accurate, the same ideas were reported by
Rene Zazzo in his article "remembering Leontiev").
Vygotsky and the Sixth Thesis on Feuerbach
Vygotsky argued that "personality=an aggregation of social relations"
(1989) and he added that "Personality is a totality of social relations".
Vygotsky's theory of personality is grounded in the theoretical framework
of The six thesis on Feuerbach. The six thesis on Feuerbach bacame the
center of a heated debates between the different fractions of Marxism in
the 1960s. The debate was very intense particularly between three trends of
marxism: marxism humanism speculative represend by Roger Garaudy, Adam
Schaff, and Leszek Kolakowski; and marxism structuralism anti-humanism
represned by Louis Althusser; and Lucien Seve's marxism which rejected the
two above and claim the return to Marx original writings. For more
information about these stimulating debates between Adam Schaff and Lucien
Sève concerning the translation of The six thesis on Feuerbach see:
Schaff, A. (1971). Au sujet sur la traduction française de la VI thèse de
Marx sur Feuerbach. L'Homme et la Société [Man and Society). No. 19/20, pp.
156-167. (in French)
Sève, L. (1971). Mise au point: La VI thèse de Marx sur Feuerbach. L'Homme
et la Société [Man and Society). No. 20, pp. 264-267. (in French)
Schaff, A. (1971). Au sujet sur la traduction des thèses de Marx sur
Feuerbach. L'Homme et la Société [Man and Society). No. 22/23, pp. 25-51.
(in French)
Sève, L. (1972). Réponse à Adam Schaff sur la traduction et le sens de la
VI thèse de Marx sur Feuerbach. L'Homme et la Société [Man and Society).
No. 24/25, pp. 97-107. (in French)
Schaff, A e Sève, L. (1975). Marxismo e umanesimo: Per un'analisi
semantica delle "Tesi su Feuerbach" di K. Marx,.Dedalo, Bari, 182 pp. (in
Italian)
Ponzio, A. (1975). Il problema dell'individuo umano e la traduzione e il
senso delle Tesi di Marx su Feuerbach, introduzione. In Adam Schaff e
Lucien Sève, "Marxismo e umanesimo per un'analisi delle Tesi di Marx su
Feuerbach" (pp. 5-48). Dedalo, Bari. (in Italian, I think It will be a good
idea for our colleague psycholinguists who are working within the
Vygotskian framework to pay attention to the writings of Augusto Ponzio,
large part of his work is available in English).
That heated debate on the translation of Karl Marx's sixth Theses on
Feuerbach is now worth remembering in the light of our discussion of
Leontiev's activity, consciousness and personality. It involved, directly
or indirectly, a large number of Marxist psychologists, philosophers, and
intellectuals at that time. I believe that the sixth Thesis on Feuerbach is
the key to a Marxist psychology of personality. Personality according to
Vygotsky " is a totality of social relations." Concrete human psychology.
And he added that "We cannot master the truth about personality and
personality itself so long as mankind has not master the truth about
society and sociey itself. In contrast, in the new society our science will
take a central place in life" Collected works, V.3. Vygotsky was familiar
with the Theses on Feuerbach as this statement shows "I am a social
relation of me to myself." Concrete human psychology, "Genetically social
relations real relations between people, underlie all higher functions and
their relationships." Concrete human psychology, "Personality ... arises as
a result of cultural development because "personality" is a historical
concept." Collected Works, Vol.4, "A change in the human personality and an
alteration of man himself must inevitably take place. The first... consists
of the very fact of the destruction of the capitalist forms of organization
and production. Along with the withering away of the capitalist order, all
the forces which oppress man and which cause him to become enslaved by
machines and which interfere with his free development will also fall away,
disapear and destroyed. Along with the liberation of the many millions of
human beings from suppression, will come the liberation of the human
personality from its fetters which curb its development" Vygotsky Reader,
"We become ourselves through others." Concrete human psychology,"The
personality becomes a personality for itself by virtue of the fact that it
is in itself for others. This is the process of the development of the
personality" Concrete human psychology. In this respect, Marx argued that
"Individuals have alawys built on themselves, but naturally on themselves
within their given historical conditions and relationships" (German
Ideology).
Leontiev asserted that "In all its varied forms, the activity of the human
individual is a system set within a system f social relations ... Human
activity is not a relation between a person and a society that confronts
him ... rather, these very social conditions bear themselves the motives
and goals of his activity, its means and modes. In a word, society produces
the activity that shaped its individuals" (1974).
CHAT is an extension of the materialist conception of history. Many
colleagues have been interested to know more about cultural-historical
theory, activity theory and sociocultural theory, relation between Leontiev
and Vygotsky, Leontiev's legacy, etc which created confusion in the debate.
We spent more energies in interpreting Vygotsky differently but the point
is how to fulfill his dream "To create one's own capital".
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