Re: [xmca] Abstract to Concrete

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

we try to please, and on those rare occasions when we succeed. memory
sometimes speaks.
mike

On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 4:58 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:

> I followed your advice, Mike, and the Google search turned up Yrjo and
> Chuck discussing this same topic on xmca in 1996. :) It also drew my
> attention to the new XMCA searchable archive, which not only had
> 16-year-old conversations but was up to date to today, so included in the
> same abstract with Yrjo and Chuck in 1996, was Chuck and Andy in 2012! Very
> good work, Etienne or Ivan or Bruce or whoever is doing that work.
>
> Andy
>
> mike cole wrote:
>
>> There are many places to access Yrjo's ideas about ascending from the
>> abstract to the concrete. Searching on Engestrom "abstract to concrete"
>> should provide plenty of examples.
>> mike
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 6:05 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:
>> ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     You have to buy the journal or purchase a copy of the article here:
>>     http://www.tandfonline.com/**toc/hmca20/19/3<http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmca20/19/3>
>>
>>
>>     Sorry. That's how it works. We are allowed one article per issue
>>     for free distribution on xmca only.
>>
>>     Andy
>>
>>
>>     Nektarios Alexi wrote:
>>
>>
>>         Can we have the whole article?
>>
>>
>>         -----Original Message-----
>>         From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
>>         <mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.**ucsd.edu<xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>>
>> on behalf of Andy Blunden
>>         Sent: Thu 11/15/2012 6:24 PM
>>         To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>>         Subject: [xmca] Abstract to Concrete
>>
>>         Taylor & Francis allows xmca only discuss one article per
>>         issue, but I
>>         see no reason why we couldn't discuss this excerpt from
>>         Engestrom's
>>         paper. It concerns "rising from the abstract to the concrete,"
>>         which we
>>         were recently discussing, but without resolution.
>>
>>         --------------------------
>>
>>         Ascending from the abstract to the concrete is achieved
>>         through specific
>>         epistemic or learning actions. Together these actions form an
>>         expansive
>>         cycle or spiral. An ideal-typical sequence of epistemic actions in
>>         ascending from the abstract to the concrete may be described
>>         as follows:
>>
>>         .         The first action is that of questioning, criticizing, or
>>         rejecting some aspects of the accepted practice and existing
>>         wisdom. For
>>         the sake of simplicity, we will call this action questioning.
>>
>>         .         The second action is that of analyzing the
>>         situation. Analysis
>>         involves mental, discursive or practical transformation of the
>>         situation
>>         in order to find out origins and explanatory mechanisms.
>>
>>         .         The third action is that of modeling a new explanatory
>>         relationship in some publicly observable and transmittable
>>         medium. This
>>         means constructing an explicit, simplified model of the new
>>         idea, a germ
>>         cell, that explains the problematic situation and offers a
>>         perspective
>>         for resolving and transforming it.
>>
>>         .         The fourth action is that of examining the model,
>>         running,
>>         operating, and experimenting on it in order to fully grasp its
>>         dynamics,
>>         potentials, and limitations.
>>
>>         .         The fifth action is that of implementing the model,
>>         concretizing it by means of practical applications,
>>         enrichments, and
>>         conceptual extensions.
>>
>>         .         The sixth and seventh actions are those of
>>         reflecting on and
>>         evaluating the process and consolidating its outcomes into a
>>         new stable
>>         form of practice.
>>
>>
>>         --------------------
>>
>>         MCA 19(1) pp. 288-289.
>>
>>         Andy
>>
>>         mike cole wrote:
>>         > Dear Colleagues--
>>         >
>>         > I have been reminded of an issue that has been nagging at me
>>         for some time,
>>         > that we have not had a discussion of any of the articles in
>>         the special
>>         > issue of MCA called "concepts in the wild."  The article
>>         selected by a plurality of
>>         > voters was by Chuck Bazerman on concepts in the process of
>>         writing. But no one has
>>         > commented on the article. That seems to me a shame. In fact,
>>         the entire
>>         > issue, with its stellar set of authors and papers is worth
>>         discussing, and I
>>         > figure  there will be more articles on this general theme in
>>         the time to come, spanning as it does, the story of all those
>>         practice in which we acquire and deploy concepts in organizing
>>         our social life and experience the world.
>>         >
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>>
>>
>>     --     ------------------------------**------------------------------
>> **------------
>>     *Andy Blunden*
>>     Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/
>> **>
>>     Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
>>     http://ucsd.academia.edu/**AndyBlunden<http://ucsd.academia.edu/AndyBlunden>
>>
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>>
>>
> --
> ------------------------------**------------------------------**
> ------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
> http://ucsd.academia.edu/**AndyBlunden<http://ucsd.academia.edu/AndyBlunden>
>
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