Paul and others--
I am almost certain that the Russian term used by Leontiev is "otrazhenie"
but others more knowledgeable can correct that. My four volume 1958
dictionary gives both common sense and philosophical definitions and I
find little help in what it provides.
Common sensically, reflection as in "I saw my reflection in a mirror."
Philosophically:
"The ability of consciousness to reproduce images of material objects
existing independing of ourselves. ..." Materialist theory, the theory
fo reflection of objects by thought, promulgated here {from Engels} with
the most complete clarity: external to us exist things. Our perception
and conceptions of things..." see Lenin, Materialism and empiricocriticism.
-------
I find it very difficult to interpret the concept of reflection
as it is used in Soviet psychology, including Leontiev. I have a lot
of sympathy with the more complex approaches being suggested by
various MCA members and finable in Leontiev. At the same time,
the "mirroring of existing things" approach in its common sense
meanings seems to seep into my interpretations, if not the authors'.
The only thing I know about reflections in mirrors is that left
and right are reversed.
There is a chapter by Leontiev on thebiologicla and social aspects
of human development focused on development of sound/language
perception in Cole and Maltzman, *A Handbook of contemporary
Soviet Psychology* that might be interesting with respect to these
issues. Unfortunately, I am not going to have time to track down
all the difficult issues that have been raised and appreciate the
hard work of those who are helping us through the material.
mike
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