Re: [xmca] Passages from Chapter 5 of LSV

We would welcome Jussi's input, thanks Jonna. We almost have a "history of
psych" group here on
xmca at presentl. Perhaps a strength we should find a way to use better.
mike

> a
>
>
> Mike Cole kirjoitti 29.12.2008 kello 2.55:
>
>
> Ooops, forgot to cc boris on my reply to david. He is author of, among
>> other
>> interesting articles, the article on "LSV's terminology" in the Daniels et
>> al
>> Cambridge companion to vygotsky.
>>
>> I forwarded the message to him.
>> mike
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 4:52 PM, Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for these observations and inferences, David.
>>> The task of reconstructing the chronology of LSV's thinking is a
>>> formidable
>>> one. I wonder if anyone anywhere has published such a chronology. I will
>>> cc boris meshcheryakov who will know, if anybody does.
>>>
>>> mike
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 10:42 PM, David Kellogg <
>>> vaughndogblack@yahoo.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> On p. 131 of Chapter Five, LSV already has the concept of the
>>>> psychological system, that is, the linkage of disparate functions into a
>>>> single Gestalt, e.g. attention, association, judgement, representation,
>>>> and
>>>> motivation in activity.
>>>>
>>>> But he denies that this linkage of disparate functions has any effect on
>>>> the functions themselves. The relations between functions change. But
>>>> the
>>>> functions themselves do not change.
>>>>
>>>> Now, what causes the relationships between these functions to change?
>>>> That
>>>> is not clear. One possible answer is "activity", and that is the answer
>>>> that
>>>> activity theorists give. But we can see that LSV is not entirely
>>>> satisfied
>>>> with this answer.
>>>>
>>>> There are two problems. The first is that as Mike pointed out LSV is
>>>> using
>>>> "activity" in a non-technical sense, it is really just the task plus the
>>>> contraints. (Note that Prout actually translates "task" as "problem").
>>>> In
>>>> other words, an "activity" is just a subject, an object, and a tool.
>>>> That
>>>> brings us back to the old stimulus-response unit with mediating
>>>> artefact!
>>>>
>>>> The second is that Vygotsky suspects that when the relations between
>>>> functions change, the functions DO change internally as well. We know,
>>>> for
>>>> example, that when role play is reconstrued as rule based games, the
>>>> "roles"
>>>> of rule based games are quite different, more abstract. So is the goal,
>>>> which is not to make an imaginary situation but to win a real prize.
>>>>
>>>> So why does Vygotsky stress in this passage that the basic processes of
>>>> attention, association, judgment, representation, and mindset do not
>>>> actually change? I think there are two reasons.
>>>>
>>>> First of all, he is trying to critically appropriate the work of people
>>>> like Buhler who deny that there is anything fundamentally new in the
>>>> transitional age. His way of doing this is to say that they are correct,
>>>> but
>>>> they are ignoring the way in which the familiar old functions are united
>>>> in
>>>> a new Gestalt.
>>>>
>>>> Secondly, this is old work, first carried out in 1929 and written up
>>>> some
>>>> time in 1931. LSV has not yet conceptualized the actual mechanism by
>>>> which
>>>> differentiation takes place WITHIN functions and not just BETWEEN them.
>>>> That
>>>> does not happen until 1932, when he formulates the zone of proximal
>>>> development, and he does not write about it until Chapter Six.
>>>>
>>>> David Kellogg
>>>> Seoul National University of Education
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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Received on Tue Dec 30 08:58:55 2008