RE: [xmca] Circle of Activity?

["Duvall, Emily" <emily@uidaho.edu>]

Hi Andy, 
Sorry, I meant Richard Palmer. 
If you want to grab a nice overview of Giddens' and a brief introduction to Arendt's work, Mark Haugaard's book "Power: A reader" is great. 
~em

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:58 PM
Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Circle of Activity?

Thanks Emily. Giddens I have read, but it is a little while 
ago now nad he is prolific. I will check out structuration. 
Hannah Arendt I keep coming up to, but have never actually 
picked her up! Which Palmer are you referring to?

Andy

Duvall, Emily wrote:
> Thanks for bringing this up Andy... :-)
> I do have one more suggestion... check out Giddens and structuration... you may find connections between the hermeneutic circle and activity. Palmer is another good source. If you want some fun, I suggest Arendt... her work is very political and may appeal to you.
> ~em
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:19 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Circle of Activity?
> 
> Thanks Emily, and others.
> By browsing over how Heidegger and Gadamer and recent 
> writers use the idea of "hermeneutic circle" it seems that 
> they did not at all just see it in a literary sense, but 
> also in the same sense I am using it, i.e., the 
> understanding and construction of social reality. But in 
> each case the idea is located within a larger theory which 
> differs in fundamental ways from CHAT. So in a way, I don't 
> need another term, but in other ways I do.
> 
> Best of luck with your collaborative project Paul and Emily. 
>   I look forward to seeing the result.
> 
> Andy
> 
> Duvall, Emily wrote:
>> Hi Paul, 
>> I took a seminar on TM as well... from Denny Schmidt at Penn State... :-) 
>> I like to think that Gadamer moved Heidegger's work forward. Isn't that what all good grad students should do? 
>> At any rate, yes, the circle doesn't close but renews itself so to speak as new understandings/fusions are achieved (and they are achieved if you consider the importance placed on conversation for Gadamer). For me the 'circle' is much better understood as a spiral that doesn't end... kind of like those tops that keep spinning and the circle keeps moving as it appropriates and renews.
>> I actually have a paper going on Vygotsky and Gadamer that I submitted to MCA... sent back because I need to work on internalization... one of these days. Perhaps you might be interested in some collaboration???
>> ~em
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Dillon
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 5:21 PM
>> To: Culture ActivityeXtended Mind
>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Circle of Activity?
>>
>> Emily,
>>
>> I totally agree with your identification of Gadamer for a good understanding of  the concept of the hermeneutic circle.  I took a seminar on Truth and Method in grad school.  We spent several sessions on Gadamer's appropriation of Heidegger, especially in relation to the question of the horizon's that interpretation presupposes.  As I understand it, the hermeneutic circle is never closed, in some ways reminiscent of GH Mead's "generalized other" or the Zen brush paintings of a circle, or even as Leonard Cohen sings,  "there is a crack, a crack in everything that's where the light comes in."
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> --- On Tue, 7/14/09, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu> wrote:
>>
>> From: Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu>
>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Circle of Activity?
>> To: ablunden@mira.net, "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 10:41 AM
>>
>> Hi Andy, 
>> The hermeneutic circle is tied to horizons of understanding and fusion of horizons. When we come to agreement between us (myself and the text in this case) then there is a fusion of horizons of understanding. This brings the circle of interpretation into play as we re-engage, so to speak, and work on the next/ new horizon of understanding. Gadamer (my peep here) would argue that there is a tension between the whole and the parts of the text with neither taking seniority, so to speak. I would argue, on his behalf, that the you cannot simply reduce meaning to the meaning within the text outside the reader. This would be Dilthey's fallacy.... there is a nice piece by Gadamer on this aspect of Dilthey's work but Gadamer addresses all of this in Truth and Method.  
>> I would suggest using Gadamer for your definitions. I would also recommend Gallagher on education and hermeneutics. 
>> By the way, I wrote a piece that brings together activity, hermeneutics, and democratic education...yes, a blend of Engestrom, Vygotsky, Gadamer and Dewey... to look at ways to talk about what occurs for teachers and students when working in the ZPD.
>> ~em
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 8:33 AM
>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: [xmca] Circle of Activity?
>>
>> Another problem of terminology. I would like to know if 
>> anyone knows the expression for this idea.
>>
>> "The hermeneutic circle" is the understanding of a text 
>> based on reading each word composing the text, but each word 
>> is read only in the light of having already taken the word 
>> to belong to a certain genre of text. Thus we have a circle: 
>> understand whole via parts, understand parts via whole.
>>
>> But this concept of 'circle' is hardly unique to the 
>> interpretation of texts.
>>
>> An institution or social formation is constituted by the 
>> individuals in a community who act and perceive a range of 
>> actions as belonging a certain social entity, but each 
>> action is always only interpreted in the light of it being 
>> part of a certain social entity. So we have a circle.
>>
>> I am thinking of calling this a 'circle of activity'.
>>
>> Does anyone know if this idea has a name which makes the 
>> link to 'hermeneutic circle' explicit?
>>
>> Andy
>>
>>
>>
> 

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden (Erythrós Press and Media) 
http://www.erythrospress.com/
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