mike
>From juhap who-is-at rieska.oulu.fi Tue Feb 6 18:51:23 1996
>From: juhap who-is-at rieska.oulu.fi (juha pihlaja)
Subject: CHAT: Leontyev 1981
Status: R
Leontyev A. N. 1981. Problems of the development of the mind. Moscow:
Progress. An Outline of the Evolution of the Psyche
I have picked up some notes about Leontyevs text, which has four parts:
The evolution of the psyche of animals, the origin of human consciousness,
a propose of historical development of conciousness and a propose of the
historical approach to study of the human psyche.
I The evolution of the psyche in animals
The first historical stage of psyche is called by L An Outline of the
Evolution of the Psyche eontyev elementary sensory psyche. its main feature
is that it is induced by some property or another affecting the animal to
which it is at the same time directed, but which does not coincide with
the properties that the animals life directly depends on.
The next stage of psyche is called perceptive psyche. It has the capacity
to reflect external, objective reality already in the form of a reflection
of things, rather than in the form of separate elementary sensation evoked
by separate properties or combinations of properties.
The next stage is the stage of Intellect. K=F6hler studied systematically th=
e
intellectual behaviour of the anthropoid apes which Leontyev calls most
highly developed animals. K=F6hler considered that the operations of apes
were not shaped gradually trough trial and error but arose suddenly,
independently of previous experience, by insight as it were. This feature
brought these animals closest to the behaviour of man.
Leontyev presents that the entire prehistory of human consciousness is the
long complex process of the evolution of animals' psyche. Leontyev
separates the differences between animal activity and human activity. The
main difference is that the animals activity is instinctive biological
activity. That's why it can only be realised in a relation to an object of
vital, biological need or in relation to affective properties and things
and relationships.
Another essential feature of animals behaviour is that animals relations
to each others are the same in principle as their relations to other
external objects. That is connected to the fact that animals have no
society. Many animals can act together (for example ants are that are
dragging big object along together) but they have no division of labour
because there exist no labour among them. Animals communication is often
expressed by one animal's affecting others by means of vocal sounds. By
experiments of (Yerkes and Ueckull) Leontyev shows how this speech is
instinctive and related to the objects of them selves, but are associated
with animals subjective states that arise in connection with these
objects.
The psyche of human beings is emancipated from those features but it has
also created new qualitative features, the social-historical development,
which governs the evolution of the psyche.
II The Origin of Human Consciousness
In this chapter Leontyev presents three main conditions of consciousness:
labour activity with tools, the collective nature of labour and the
language which arises also of labour.
Conscious reflection of human being is reflection of material reality in
its separateness from the subject's actual attitudes to it, i.e.
reflection that distinguishes its objective stable properties. The cause
underlying the humanising of animal-like of human being is the emergence of
labour. The origin and development of labour was the first condition for
the existence of human being. "Labour created man", Engels wrote.
The main organ of the man's labour was the hand. Leontyev shows with
experiment which is depicted in Penfildes picture how the human features
are reflected in the structure of cerebral cortex. Projections of such
organs as the hands and the organs of the speech are relatively big
surface occupied in the human brain. Mans sense organs were also perfected
trough labour.
Two essential features are typical to labour process: Firstly the use and
making of tools and secondly the joint, collective nature of labour. In his
famous example of beater, taking part in a primeval collective hunting,
Leontyev presents how the motive of individual became problematic. What the
processes of hunters activity were directed to, did not consequently,
coincide with what stimulated them. They did not coincide with the motive
of his activity. These kind of processes, where the object and their motive
do not coincide with one another Leontyev calls 'actions' and he shows
how singular action becomes possible in a joint labour. The separation of
action necessary presuppose the possibility of active subject 's psychic
reflection of the relation between objective motive and the object of the
action.
The language arises also in the labour process. Language is a product of
man's activity, a product of the group. Man's work movements, also acted on
the other participants in production. This meant that his actions acquired
a dual function: directly production function and a function of affecting
other people. These two functions were later separated.
III A Propos of the Historical Development of Consciousness
In this chapter Leontyev criticises the traditional approach to the psyche
and tries to present a sketch of the principle of an historical approach
to the psyche. The traditional approach to the psyche starts from a
difference in phenomena and processes of a dual kind. First kind are inner
processes (sense images, concepts emotional experiences, thinking). All
these belong to the sphere of the psychic. The other kind are the phenomena
and processes that form the external, material world. (all the material
reality surrounding man (his body and physiological phenomena). Leontyev
stresses that this kind of approach completely closes the book of the
practical activity of human being.
Leontyev examines the concepts of meaning and sense in human activity, the
relation between subjective sense and meaning, because their relation is
the 'generatrices' of the inner structure of consciousness. The meaning is
the generalisation of reality that is crystallised and fixed in a word or
word combination. This is the ideal, mental form of the crystallisation of
mankind's social experience. The range of the given society's ideas,
science, and language exist as a system of corresponding meanings. Meaning
is historical and objective penomena. But meaning also exists also as a
fact of the individual consciousness. Meanings exists in human heads.
The psychological problem of meaning is the question of what is it's real
place in peoples psychic life. Leontyev defines that meaning is the general
reflection of the reality developed by humanity and fixed in the form of a
concept or knowledge.
The concept of sense is according to Leontyev a phenomena what is created
in human life. Leontyev highlights the historical approach with this
phenomena too. Sense is always the sense of something. There are no pure
senses. That's why the question of personal sense can only be answered by
bringing out the corresponding motive. Sense and meaning need to be
differentiated of each other. They are linked with one another but the
relationship is so that the sense is expressed in meanings, but not meaning
in senses.
Then Leontyev presents us the primitive consciousness which main feature is
the coincidence of senses and meanings. The emergence and development of
social division of labour and of private property relations gave way to the
new structure of consciousness. This new structure had quite different
relation of senses and meanings.
Leontyev pays attention to the two circumstances when his attempt is to
analyse general structure of peoples consciousness in class society. The
first one is alienation and the second one about spiritual needs of
workers.
IV A Propos the Historical Approach to Study of the Human Psyche
=46irstly Leontyev critizitzes naturalistic theories in human psychology.
These theories explain the transfer from biological level to human level
mechanically. Leontyev claims that this will lead to the utilitarism and
pragmatism.
On the other side Leontyev sees the attempt to explain human activity and
consciousness from the social viewpoint. These theories highlight that the
society is the explanatory principle for their individual. Piaget has here
dual significance: In his general theory of development he has concepts
like organisation and assimilation but on the other hand Piaget stresses
by the thesis of mental development of child the collectives role in the
development of an individual child.
In next chapter Leontyev handles the development of the historical approach
in Soviet psychology. Vygotsky was the first one who suggested that the
historical approach could be the leading principle in the construction of
Soviet psychology. He introduced the main idea of historicism of the
nature of the human mind, the idea of the transformation of the natural
mechanisms of mental processes during socio-historical and ontogenetic
development in to the concrete, psychological research. Vygotsky based his
research on two well known hypotheses: that of the mediated character of
man's mental functions; and that of origin of inner mental processes from
originally external, interpsychological activity. In 1940 Vygotsky
suggested that psychology have to investigate not the activity and mind
but the main in activity. Later there rised two alternative directions
and Leontyev seems to be a little confused about the power of positivists
trends.
The ontogenetic development is different with animal and people. The
ontogenetic development of human being is mastered by socio-historical
experience. The mechanisms of appropriation of the socio-cultural
experience are peculiar. They are mechanisms of the forming mechanisms.
Leontyev shows by an example (how the child learns to drink from the cup)
how a quite new functional motor system arises. The forming of new
functional system depends on the objective properties of the object itself,
the cup.
In the last chapter Leontyev returns to the question about the brain and
psychic activity of human being. He had two assumptions: 1) the new mental
capacity new psychic functions are formed in the course of mans socio-
historical development 2) that in the era of dominance of social laws
man's brain does not phylogenetically undergo essential
morphophysiological changes, and that the achievements of historical
development are fixed in the objective products of human activity.
When the concept of psychic function was introduced in to the psychology
there arose the task of finding organs that correspond to concrete, psychic
functions. Attempts to localises them proved unjustified. There was no
justification to relate psychic functions just as closely to some
physiological process or other cerebral cortex.
By an example of 'pitch' hearing Leontyev brings out the systemic nature
of psychic functions. The feature of systemic psychic functions most
easily established is that their pervious complete reflex structure can
always be developed and then its reduced motor links revealed, so that
their structure, in some cases at least can be reorganised by, for example,
replacing one link by another. The other feature is their own unique
dynamics, which is expressed in special reinforcement act.
The psychic functions are not localised on some cortical cell or other, but
rather on a complex brain system, whose elements are located in different
zones of brains, often far apart, but which , however, form a single
constellation.
Man's psyche is a function of the higher brain structures that arose in him
ontogenetically in the course of his mastering of historically moulded
forms of activity in relation to the human world about him. That aspect of
man's development , which is physiologically expressed in the reproduction,
change and complication of these structures in succeeding generations, is
also the process of the psyches historical development.
Questions:
1) What can new investigations of the brains and genes serve to
Leontyev's theory?
- the sources of Leontyev's text were mainly from the years 1950-60. Has
there happened something in the investigations of brain or etology or
paleontology which could refer to other concequences
-What could new neurological studies of brain, studies of genes bring to
Leontyev's text? In the news I have heard there has been founded a genes
which effect disposedness to alcoholism to schizophrenic behaviour.
2) The concept of psychic function?
Is it developed more?
3) The labour is the most important factor which has emerged human being.
What are the main arguments against this theory?
juhap who-is-at rieska.oulu.fi
Juha Pihlaja
Karhup=E4=E4nsuonpolku 1
03600 Karkkila
p. t. 90-2259692
k. 90-2258307