"Human psychology is concerned with the activity of
concrete individuals that takes place either in conditions of
open association, in the midst of people, or eye to eye with
the surrounding object world - before the potter's wheel or
behind the writing desk. Under whatever kind of conditions and
forms of human activity takes place, whatever kind of structure
it assumes, it must not be considered as isolated from social
relations, from the life of society. In all of its distinctness,
the activity of the human individual represents a system included
in the styste of relationships of siciety. Outside these
relationships human activity simply does not exist." (Leontiev,
1978, p. 51).
Engestrom is just as clear. In discussing Leontiev's
description of a a beater taking part in the collective hunt,
Engestrom argues that the description shows ..."the insufficiency
of an individual tool-mediated action as a unit of psychological
analysis. Without consideration of the overall collective
activity, the individua beater's action seems "senseless and
unjustified.... (Engestrom, 1987, p. 66)
As I read Leontiev and Engestrom, tool-mediated
individual activity may seem to be a reasonable beginning point
for the analysis of human activity. However, tools and actions
do not exist in isolation. Tools, whether primary, secondary, or
tertiary (Wartofsky, 1979), are basic cultural elements. Tools
do not exist in isolation. They are always tied to past
generations. Thus tool-mediation implies cultural mediation and
places the activity of individuals within the social relations of
previous generations of humans and the activity arranged by the
social relations of the present collective activity system.
Engestrom, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An
activity-theoretical approach to developmental research.
Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy
Leont'ev, A. N. (1978). Activity, consciousness, and
personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Wartofsky, M. (1979). Models: Representation and the scientific
understanding. Dordrecht, Holland: Riedel
Bill Blanton