Let's put somewhat aside the question if anybody can actually
*discover* an *idea* or a *concept*: I tend to think that we rather
*construct* and *introduce* them, like any other neologisms. Anyway,
this is just a remark aside, let's get straight to the matter.
I need to think if Vygotsky in fact ever said anything on "mediated
action" (if anybody is aware of specific locus in any Vygotsky's text
where he actually says "mediated action" I would greatly appreciate
the reference to the source).
As to the other two, I am inclined to look towards the Gestaltists,
primarily Kurt Koffka along with such peripheral participants and
fellow-tavellers of Gestaltpsychologie movement as Kurt Lewin and Kurt
Goldstein as the guys who approximately one hundred seventeen times
better and way earlier expressed pretty much the same ideas, but in
slightly different terms than Vygotsky vaguely did with his "unit of
analysis" and "social situation of development". I am not sure, but I
guess I briefly suggested this here:
Yasnitsky, A. (2011). Lev Vygotsky: Philologist and Defectologist, A
Socio-intellectual Biography. In Pickren, W., Dewsbury, D., &
Wertheimer, M. (Eds.). Portraits of Pioneers in Developmental
Psychology, (Vol. 7, pp. 109-134).
Vygotsky, in turn, only started learning from the great Germans
(Americans, Jews, etc.) when he died.
Unfortunately, though, I am not so sure that these ideas have in fact
revolutionized psychology, at least so as long as mainstream (i.e.,
empirical, North American, ahistorical, non-cumulative, reductionist,
etc.) psychology is concerned.
Anton
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>
*To:* Anton Yasnitsky <the_yasya@yahoo.com>; "eXtended Mind, Culture,
Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
*Sent:* Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:43:14 PM
*Subject:* Re: [xmca] Special issue on Vygotsky's legacy:
groudbreaking discoveries in PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal!
So Anton, to whom should we be attributing ideas like "unit of
analysis", "social situation of development", "mediated action" which
have revolutionised psychology, and we have been thinking were
discoveries of Vygotsky? Is there someone else who should be credited?
Andy
Anton Yasnitsky wrote:
> Indeed, thanks a lot to all those researchers, editors, translators,
and other volunteers and enthusiasts who made this -- and will make
several forthcoming -- journal issues possible!!
>
>
> As to Vygotsky's archives, well, it is a little bit different. For
instance, as one paper argues, on the contrary, archival materials of
one of arguably Vygotsky's works were NOT preserved, and the Russian
text of the work was blatantly retranslated (or just translated) into
Russian from English (this was a much later copy that actually WAS
preserved, or, for that matter, was NOT preserved either, but was
"reconstructed" some time in the 1950s or 1960s).
>
>
> Yet again, as we know, the manuscript of yet another work, commonly
believed to be a central work of Vygotsky, was NOT preserved either.
The same holds for yet another allegedly most important Vygotsky's book.
>
>
> So, in sum, I would not be that thankful to those who have been in
charge of keeping Vygotsky's archival stuff alive and, for that
matter, accessible.
>
>
> Anton
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com <mailto:lchcmike@gmail.com>>
> To: Anton Yasnitsky <the_yasya@yahoo.com
<mailto:the_yasya@yahoo.com>>; "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
<xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>>
> Cc: Alexey Kuznetsov <alexey.math@gmail.com
<mailto:alexey.math@gmail.com>>; Ющенкова Дарья Викторовна
<dashulya-psy@mail.ru <mailto:dashulya-psy@mail.ru>>; Anton Yasnitsky
<anton.yasnitsky@gmail.com <mailto:anton.yasnitsky@gmail.com>>;
Мещеряков Борис Гурьевич <borlogic@yahoo.com <mailto:borlogic@yahoo.com>>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 11:04:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Special issue on Vygotsky's legacy:
groudbreaking discoveries in PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal!
>
>
> Thanks to all who carried out this work. Thanks also to those who
kept the archival materials alive.
> mike
>
>
>
> 2012/3/21 Anton Yasnitsky <the_yasya@yahoo.com
<mailto:the_yasya@yahoo.com>>
>
> A special issue of PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological issue has been
released lately. This thematic multilingual issue combined a few
studies on textology, chronology and historical development of
Vygotsky's works. Several highlights include:
>
>> - first ever rigorous historical reconstruction of the list of
Vygotsky's major works and the chronology of their composition
>>
>> - the sensational finding: Vygotsky never wrote the "History of
development of higher mental (psychological) functions" and "Tool and
symbol (sign)" the way we know these texts in Russian now
>>
>> - a discussion of Vygotsky's " Tool and Sign" (alias "Tool and
Sign"), i.e. the first half of what we all know as "Mind and Society"
(1978, chapters 1-4): was Russian text translated from the English
one, or the English text translated from Russian one, or both?
>>
>> - numerous fakes and falsifications in Vygotsky's various published
works & the problem of reliability: is it the Vygotsky that we know or
rather -- the Vygotsky that we DO NOT know?
>>
>> - full list of editorial interventions in the three editions of
Vygotsky's "Thinking and speech" of 1934, 1956, & 1982
>>
>> - a historical, first ever republication of early Vygotsky's
articles on art, theatre and literature of 1922: the unknown Vygotsky
of his Gomel' period (1917-1924)
>>
>> All these and some other materials, in Russian, English,
Portuguese, and French are available FREE, 24/7 online @
http://www.psyanima.ru/journal/2011/4/index.php
>>
>> The editorial team are presently considering publishing a follow-up
issue of the journal that would build on these studies, so any
>> queries, comments, suggestions, and even paper proposals (in
virtually any language and of virtually any length) will be greatly
appreciated!
>> __________________________________________
>> _____
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>>
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> _____
> xmca mailing list
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>
>
>
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Joint Editor MCA: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmca20/18/1
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/>
Book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608461459/