[xmca] DIALECTICAL PSYCHOLOGY SECTION, GROUPE and SEMINAR

Hi,

here is some urgent information.

Organizing committee of the IX annual “Il’enkov’s readings” international
conference informs that

24 and 25 of April the IX annual “Il’enkov’s readings” conference will take
place in Moscow.

24 of April from 16:00 till 18:00 GMT the international internet video
seminar “Il’enkov and revolution in psychology” will be held as a part of
the conference. Key note participants of the seminar: recently organized
Russian “Dialectical psychology” group ( a part of ISCAR’s “Dialectical
psychology” section) and professor Mike Cole.

There is technical possibility to communicate additional 6-8 participants
(channel width). To participate it in full format one needs some special
equipment, something compatible with: “hard” MCU – Tandberg 880, “soft” MCU
– Polycom PVX. This equipment is rather conventional for universities. If
you like to take part in the seminar you have to perform self testing of the
video conference according to the following algorithm.

Here is the instruction for self testing of the Video Conference I was given
by my Moscow technical supporters.

1. Switch on your client software
2. Attach video server 77.74.184.65
3. You will see the window with options “Guest” & “test-pvx”
4. You have to choose “test-pvx”
5. If you can see yourself or the picture from the other camera it
means that self testing was successful.

Hope that testing will be successful.

Nota bene, you are testing only video channel, so during testing you won’t
have any sound.

If testing passes successfully you have to send as soon as possible to
E-mails (monada@netvox.ru, avramus@gmail.com) something like this:

Here is our information:

- Polycom View Station VSX 7000

- Internet2 IP Number: 190.15.3.65

- ISDN Number: 571 3524280 (from 128 to 512 kbps)

- Public IP (Just as Backup): 157.253.23.9

Exactly this information was sent from Universidad de Los Andes. Bogotá
Colombia, so Number one in the list of participants is already filled.

The earlier you send your information the more chances you will have to get
to the list of participants.

The second form of communication is much easier to organize, because it
needs only a PC with browser. The URL (web address) will be announced later.
But the number of participants is even less – Only 6 participants. And the
list is also opened.

1. Andy Blunden - Australia

2. Laszlo Garai - Hungary

The Organizing committee apologizes for late announcement (we have to cope a
number of organizational and technical problems) and asks you to send your
applications (with your IP address) as soon as possible.

The programme of seminar will include mutual introduction, two or three
short reports and open discussion. The most of reports of Russian
participants will be in Russian (with translation into English).

The video translation will be recorded and after short time it will be
available to download.

As an introductory course to the seminar we recommend to look through the
following texts:

1. The article, concerning the role of Evald Il’enkov in the history of
philosophy “EVALD IL’ENKOV AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY” by Lev Naumenko. It is
available in English here: <http://voxnet.ru/~monada/archive.php?lng=eng>
http://voxnet.ru/~monada/archive.php?lng=eng
2. The first two chapters of Il’encov’s Dialectical logic (
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/essay1.htm> 1:
Subject Matter and Sources of Logic [Descartes and Leibnitz]
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/essay2.htm> 2:
Thought as Attribute of Substance [Spinoza]) and his classical text about
ideality “The concept of the Ideal” (They are available here:
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/index.htm>
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/index.htm &
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/ideal/ideal.htm>
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/ideal/ideal.htm )

3. Optionally “Life psyche consciousness” and “Presentation” (In
English.) by Alexander (Sasha) Surmava. They are available here:
<http://voxnet.ru/~monada/articles.php?lng=eng>
http://voxnet.ru/~monada/articles.php?lng=eng

In the name of Organizational committee

Vladimir Lazutkin
Alexander Surmava

“DIALECTICAL PSYCHOLOGY” GROUP DECLARATION

The characteristic peculiarity of psychology is first of all the unique
complexity of its subject matter. A human is equally the summit of natural
evolution and the subject of historical development so theoretic
understanding of human nature requires from a researcher a special
sophisticated theoretic and methodological knowledge. The second even more
serious difficultness lies in the exceptional social responsibility of
psychologist not merely theorizing about imaginary nature of human sole but
putting forward and realizing some practical acts, affecting this very sole.
At last, one more peculiarity of a human as a subject matter of
psychological investigation consists in special characteristic of a human to
be the most elusive object so while he/she is alive he/she is in permanent
movement, in permanent making so any finite opinion about him risks become
false even early than it will be formulated.

It follows from this that the only possible way of comprehension of human
nature can be delivered by dialectic in its modern materialistic redaction.

A dialectic is not an abstract methodology, it’s not a kit of formal rules,
technologies and workarounds. Even less it is a sectarian ideological
symbol or password. We, a group of investigators belong to theoretic
tradition of Vygotsky, Leont’ev and Il’enkov and follow the dialectic
tradition in philosophy and psychology, we insist, that without dialectic
the psychology is doomed to remain not a rational humanistic discipline, but
a cross between inhuman scientistic technology and applied magic.

Dialectic is opposed both in the history of psychology and now with dualism
as an abstract metaphysical principle.

The history of CHAT displays the drama of successive attempts to overcome
multilateral dualism as a nightmare of psychological theory. The key figures
in those attempts in the past century were Vygotsky, Leont’ev and Il’enkov
who did their best to find a resolution of psycho-physical problem in all
its forms, as problem of interrelation of mind and body, of “external” and
“internal”, of mind and affect, of culture and nature, of “free
subjectivity” and “enforced marionette”, of personality and society.

We entirely share Vygotsky’s idea that the logic of interaction (the
interaction of mind and body) is prescientific logic. Leont’ev stood on the
same theoretic position. Nevertheless both founders of CHAT failed in their
bold attempt to overcome old Cartesian dualism despite the fact that both
tried to be guided by Spinoza and Marx. Hence the special inconsistency and
contradictoriness of some theoretic ideas of the same Vygotsky, e.g. his
idea concerning the thinking of so called “primitives” allegedly differs
from “genuine theoretic” or “scientific” thinking of modern literate
Europeans and Americans.

The perspective of the fundamental leap forward towards overcoming this
dualism and consequently to solving sharp social-psychological and
social-pedagogic problems of the present was offered by Il’enkov who put
forward basically new and in the same time authentic interpretation of
Spinoza. The idea of “thinking body” not only overcomes the dead end of
psychophysical problem, but opens a new breathtaking perspective for
theoretic and practical psychology.

We don’t consider ourselves as a sect of followers of the next in turn
popular guru anxious about “authentic interpretation” of his sacred texts.
First of all we share with our teachers the preassurance in existence if
objective truth and the attitude to search it. We share with predecessors
the common understanding of social objectives and the human and social
responsibility in achieving of these objectives. To realize in theoretic
researches and practically the enormous heuristic potential of dialectic
tradition, to target and concentrate our efforts on the most difficult
problem of democratization of the educational system, on the problem of
creating of basically new school, the school which doesn’t kills an alive
thought, but contrary helps to develop it, a school which doesn’t crowns and
“culturally” mount the process of taking children to the opposite sides of
social fences, but energetically resist and oppose to social segregation –
that is a little bit of tasks which join us in “Dialectical psychology
group”.

The most part of the participants of our group are active ISCAR members.
Others are going to join ISCAR recently. We consider our group as an
inalienable part of “Dialectical psychology” section established during the
first ISCAR Congress in Seville and invite all colleagues who share
dialectic approach to cooperate with us.

Lev Naumenko – retiree, Ph.D., member of ISCAR from 2002

Elena Sokolova – Psychological Department of Moscow State University, Ph.D.,
member of ISCAR from 2002

Viktor Arslanov – University of Russian Academy of Education, Ph.D.

Vladimir Kudriavtsev - Vygotsky Institute Russian State University for
Humanities, Ph.D., member of ISCAR from 2002

Sergey Mareev – Modern Univesity for the Humanities, Ph.D., member of ISCAR
from 2002

Vladimir Lazutkin – assistant of State Duma deputy, Ph.D.

Alexander Simakin - Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, member of
ISCAR from 2002.

Gennady Lobastov - Vygotsky Institute Russian State University for
Humanities, Ph.D.

Alexander Surmava – Vygotsky Institute Russian State University for
Humanities, Ph.D., member of ISCAR from 2002 - coordinator of the group
(monada@netvox.ru, avramus@gmail.com).

_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca