[xmca] Types of Generalization: concepts and pseudoconcepts

[Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>]

I've now read the book, and fixed the typos as I went. 
Rather than posting another huge file, I have left Word and 
PDF versions of the corrected book at

http://www.marxists.org/archive/davydov/generalization/

The first 80 pages outline Davydov's critical thesis that 
because all educational psychologists, teachers and 
educational theorists are in the thrall of empiricist 
epistemology, formal logic and nominalist ontology 
(Empiricism for short), all educational curricula and 
methods have been designed under this methodology with the 
aim of inculcating this erroneous view in the minds of the 
pupils and their way of thinking.

Especially as this corresponds to the children's spontaneous 
epistemology learnt in everyday life, it actually acts as a 
barrier to children acquiring theoretical thought. The 
tendency to cover-up and apologize for the "abstract" nature 
of theoretical thought and try to blend it unnoticed with 
everyday content accentuates the problem. As a result 
children acquire scientific concepts with difficulty and 
much later.

Then follows interesting critical appropriations of 
Vygotsky, Rubenshtein and Piaget. I would particularly like 
XMCA to discuss pp. 81-88 in which Davydov repudiates 
Vygotsky-Sakharov's experiment re pseudoconcepts etc., on 
the basis of the foregoing distinction made between (proper) 
theoretical concepts and empirical (psuedo-) concepts.

After this interesting, if somewhat long-winded critical 
introduction, chapter 7 is a mind-numbingly boring 
exposition of diamat.

But chapter 8 pp 144-174 is a very interesting exposition of 
the result: Davydov's method for teaching theoretical topics 
to 2nd grade primary schoolers, including Russian grammar 
and algebra. This goes to the issues (though not the 
answers) to the "minus times minus equals plus" thread that 
has been running for several months: teachers really want to 
read this! Quite convincing in my view.

Please collect a corrected copy of the text from 
marxists.org and if no-one preempts me, I will open a debate 
in a few days' time on the question of pseudoconcepts.

Andy


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden (Erythrós Press and Media) 
http://www.erythrospress.com/
Orders: http://www.erythrospress.com/store/main.html#books

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