Re: [xmca] Vygotsky's "objective" psychology

RE: Vol. 3 of the English-language version is
actually Vol. 1 of the Russian collection, and it
includes Leont'ev's introduction to the Russian
series (Leont'ev's intro is titled "On Vygotsky's
Creative Development"). --

Virtually nothing can be added to the above
comments on the Vygotsky's understanding of
objective psychology as opposed to the
introspective one, but some anectodal evidence
that might be of interest mainly to those
interested in the history of psychology.

According to the member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences V. P. Zinchenko (
http://www.amacad.org/members/alpha_list.pdf ),
the introductory article to the six-volume
collection of Vygotsky's works was written not by
A. N. Leontiev (
http://www.anleontiev.smysl.ru/vospomin/i-zinch.htm
) but by the well-known nowadays journalist
(former psychologist) Leonid Radzikhovskii (
http://www.ej.ru/person/5/ ). Perhaps, he is the
one who will be able to respond to this question
best :))...

For what it is worth...

Anton.

--- Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote:

> This summer I'm trying to catch up on some
> long-overdue reading. I've begun
> with Vol. 3 of the Plenum series, the Collected
> Works of L. S. Vygotsky:
> Problems with the History and Theory of
> Psychology.
>
> First, Rene van der Veer's Foreword and
> introductory chapter are well worth
> reading, particularly in informing our periodic
> discussions of problems with
> translation from one language to another; and
> especially of translating
> Vygotsky, who "never rewrote a text for the
> sake of improving its style and
> readability" (van der Veer, p. v).
>
> Vol. 3 of the English-language version is
> actually Vol. 1 of the Russian
> collection, and it includes Leont'ev's
> introduction to the Russian series
> (Leont'ev's intro is titled "On Vygotsky's
> Creative Development"). I'm
> puzzled by some of the phrasing, and wonder if
> I'm coming up against a
> translation issue (which happened when I first
> read of Vygotsky's "genetic"
> method, which is developmental and not
> biological, as I'd originally
> assumed). Leont'ev says that Vygotsky sought
> "to build a new, objective
> psychology." I'm having trouble with the term
> "objective" here. My sense of
> Vygotsky's project was that it involved what we
> now think of as
> constructivism, which is typically positioned
> against objectivism. At the
> same time, I know that some use the term
> "object" to refer to the
> goal-oriented nature of activity. Can anyone
> help me with my trouble in
> understanding the use of the term "objective"
> in this context?
>
> One final thing: I'm aware that there's some
> disagreement over the extent to
> which Vygotsky's work is Marxist. Leont'ev
> unambiguously describes
> Vygotsky's work as inherently Marxist (e.g.,
> "[Vygotsky's] new psychology
> which dealt with the most complex phenomena of
> the mental life of man,
> including consciousness, could only evolve on
> the basis of Marxism"
> (Leont'ev, p. 15). I'm not sure why others
> would think differently--perhaps
> someone who finds Vygotsky insuffiently Marxist
> could clarify.
>
> In any case, I hope that your own summer work
> is off to a good start.
>
> Peter
>
>
> Peter Smagorinsky
> The University of Georgia
> Department of Language and Literacy Education
> 125 Aderhold Hall
> Athens, GA 30602-7123
> smago@uga.edu
> /fax:706-542-4509/phone:706-542-4507/
>
http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html
>
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Received on Fri May 18 23:46 PDT 2007