Once again we have returned to Vygotsky's original crisis in psychology, "
The various psychological disciplines have obviously reached a turning
point in the development of their investigations, the gathering of factual
material, the systematisation of knowledge, and the statement of basic
positions and laws. Further advance along a straight line, the simple
continuation of the same work, the gradual accumulation of material, are
proving fruitless or even impossible. In order to go further we must choose
a path." The path Vygotsky refers to is what has grown into the much
touted and often misunderstood CHAT, I for one, still read and study to
better understand the implications this discipline has for becoming a
better educator.
I enjoyed Eugene's example of 'mind' and how contexts provide both
enlightenment and frustration with remembering and forgetting. Within the
context of my work I find myself engaged in struggles with students that
are the direct result of the school culture. If I step outside of my role
as teacher and be mindful of the pedogogy that elicits the battle
oftentimes the 'crisis' can be resolved. However, if I forget this
strategy and entrench myself in the pedogogy then the 'crisis' is not
resolved satisfactorally for the student. I must admit I may remember the
strategy exists at times but have neither the resources nor the time to
remove pedogogical boundaries. Opression does exist for teachers within
the system as well. In correlation to the field of psychology and the work
of assisting people who suffer from mental illness it is oftentimes their
inability to incorporate cultural artifacts into their daily activities
that send up the red flag for their family members that something is not
right in the person's mind. However, the mentally ill will not see
something is wrong with them, many times they will report it is somebody
else's fault that they are having struggles. Well. . . it is a systematic
issue and it is a personal issue. Resolving these issues therefore many
times are assisting the person with their personal issues as well as
assisting them to understand the systemic issue. Although Mike doesn't
specifically speak to mental illness, I believe Dr. Cole said it best in
his speech in 1997 where he attributed Alexander Luria with resolving the
crisis in psychology.
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/People/MCole/luria.html
Thank you once again Mike, your understanding and your great work will
inspire researchers for years to come.
eric
Kevin Rocap
<Kevin.Rocap@liu To: ematusov@UDel.Edu, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
.edu> <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent by: cc: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu
xmca-bounces@web Subject: Re: [xmca] cognition bounded?
er.ucsd.edu
12/05/2007 09:57
AM
Please respond
to "eXtended
Mind, Culture,
Activity"
Thanks Eugene. Entertaining AND informative, while also being vaguely
ethnographic. ;-) Well done.
I'm thinking the mind "controversy" on one level simply brings us back
to the "unit of analysis" again, no? I think folks agree stuff is
happening on both sides of the skull, but, to be useful, trying to only
get at what is in the skull, short of MRI-style instrumentation, doesn't
seem to take us anywhere interesting, or that we want to go, no?
(except, of course, if you've tied your job security to studying only
what is inside the skull ;-) - motivation and object, I guess)
In Peace,
K.
Eugene Matusov wrote:
> Dear Mike and everybody?
>
>
>
> Let me add my 3 cents (dollar is going down ;-) for this discussion. I
think
> it is better to use the verb "to mind" or "minding" than the noun "the
mind"
> since we often refer to a process rather than to a thing. In general, I
> agree with Mike, of course. But let tell you an anecdote to illustrate
the
> "distributed" (or discursive?) nature of the minding process.
>
>
>
> A few days ago, when I was leaving my work, I could not find my car in
the
> university 4-store building parking garage. As my memory has been getting
> more and more mature ;-) every day, I knew that it would happen one day
and
> that day came. While I was frustrating in my search running from one
store
> of the parking garage to another, I realized that on the top of
forgetting
> where I had parked my car, I forget to pick up a video camera from my lab
> for next day videotaped observation of Lego-Logo Robotics activities at
the
> Latin-American Community Center. With even more frustration, I went back
to
> my lab to pick up the camera. At the lab, I realized that I forgot to
send a
> web announcement to my undergrad students about reading for upcoming
class
> discussion. I sent the announcement and made some emails, and did some
other
> work while I was in lab. When I finished, I realized that it took about 2
> hours. I came back to the parking garage (with the video camera this
time)
> to resume the search of my car, the garage was almost empty, and I found
my
> car very easily. I was thinking about my "strategy" of "waiting" until
the
> garage became empty, "That was smart!" Now I am thinking, where was my
mind?
> Did I have mind at all? Was it minding? Was it MY minding? Did I lose
mind
> and then found? Does mind, like sh?, sometimes simply happen?
>
>
>
> Or is "my mind" a historical and cultural form of discourse for me to
> notice/recognize certain things and use them in future (like in future
when
> I lose my car in the UD parking garage I might stop frustrating and stop
> useless searching efforts and just go back to my office to work more
waiting
> until cars will be gone from the garage)? Is "the mind" reification of
this
> discourse?
>
>
>
> What do you think?
>
>
>
> Eugene
>
>
>
> ---------------------
>
> Eugene Matusov, Ph.D.
>
> Professor of Education
>
> School of Education
>
> University of Delaware
>
> Newark, DE 19716, USA
>
>
>
> email: ematusov@udel.edu
>
> fax: 1-(302)-831-4110
>
> website: http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu
>
> publications: http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/vita/publications.htm
>
> ---------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Mike Cole [mailto:lchcmike@gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 11:45 PM
> To: Eugene Matusov
> Subject: Fwd: [xmca] cognition bounded?
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> Date: Dec 4, 2007 8:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [xmca] cognition bounded?
> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Cc: Kevin Rocap <Kevin.Rocap@liu.edu <mailto:Kevin.Rocap@liu.edu> >
>
>
> This appears to be the responibility of Deleware and Louisiana. Eugene
and
> David?
>
> My view? OF COURSE the mind is in the head.... but not only. If it were
only
> in the head it would stay
> there and not kill people. Too damned good at killing people as it is!
> mike
>
>
>
> On Dec 4, 2007 8:16 PM, Juan Felipe Espinosa Cristià <jfespino@uc.cl
> <mailto:jfespino@uc.cl> > wrote:
>
> :)
>
>
> Kevin Rocap escribió:
>
>
>> Then who's minding the store? ;-)
>>
>> Juan Felipe Espinosa Cristià wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All:
>>>
>>> An online paper from the authors is at:
>>>
>>> http://www.udel.edu/Philosophy/papers/adams2007.pdf
>>>
>>> They said that "the mind is still in the head".
>>>
>>>
>>> Juan Felipe Espinosa C.
>>> jfespino@uc.cl
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On 12/4/07 11:20 AM, "Peter Smagorinsky" < smago@uga.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks Martin--always useful to see a contrary perspective. The
>>>>>
> descriptor
>
>>>>> says that the book:
>>>>> "Articulates and defends the "mark of the cognitive", a common sense
>>>>> theory
>>>>> used to distinguish between cognitive and non-cognitive processes"
>>>>>
>>>>> I always wonder about "common sense" arguments, and the author's
belief
>>>>> that
>>>>> they are beyond culture.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Smagorinsky
>>>>> The University of Georgia
>>>>> 125 Aderhold Hall
>>>>> Athens, GA 30602
>>>>> smago@uga.edu/phone:706-542-4507
>>>>> http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:
>>>>>
> <mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu> xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
>
>>>>> Behalf Of Martin Packer
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 10:56 AM
>>>>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>>>>> Subject: [xmca] cognition bounded?
>>>>>
>>>>> Please find below news of the latest books from Blackwell Publishing
in
>>>>> your
>>>>> chosen subject areas.
>>>>>
>>>>> To find out more about a particular title, download sample chapters
or
>>>>> order
>>>>> examination copies online* click on "more information".
>>>>>
>>>>> The Bounds of Cognition
>>>>>
>>>>> By: Frederick Adams(University of Delaware) and Kenneth
>>>>>
> Aizawa(Centenary
>
>>>>> College of Louisiana)
>>>>>
>>>>> An alarming number of philosophers and cognitive scientists have
argued
>>>>> that
>>>>> mind extends beyond the brain and body. This book evaluates these
>>>>> arguments
>>>>> and suggests that, typically, it does not.
>>>>>
>>>>> More Information
>>>>> http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/book.asp?ref=9781405149143
>>>>>
>>>>>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>>>> ----------------------------
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>>
> <http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca>
>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Juan Felipe Espinosa Cristià
> e-mail: jfespino@uc.cl
> http://jfespino.wordpress.com/
> <http://jfespino.wordpress.com/077070969/3624774>
> 077070969/3624774
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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>
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Received on Wed Dec 5 09:37 PST 2007
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