Leontyev summarises the first part of Ch. 3 "Two Approaches in Psychology"
as follows:
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"The main thesis, the substantiation of which will be presented in a
subsequent work, is that the real way to overcome this postulate [of
directness, i.e. S->R], ... is through the introduction into psychology of
the category of object activity.
"... The question is one of activity, and not one of behavior or the
neurophysiological processes that produce activity. The fact is that the
“units” isolated by analysis and language, with the help of which
behavioral, cerebral, or logical processes are described on the one hand,
and objective activity on the other, do not agree with one another. "...
either keep the basic binomial formula: action of the object -> change in
ongoing condition of the subject ..., or devise a trinomial formula
including a middle link - the activity of the subject and, correspondingly,
conditions, goals, and means of that activity — a link that mediates the
ties between them.
"We will take either the position that consciousness is determined by the
surrounding objects and phenomena, or the position that consciousness is
determined by the social existence of people ...
"But what is human life? It is that totality, more precisely, that system
of activities replacing one another. ... activity appears as a process in
which mutual transfers between the poles “subject-object” are accomplished.
“In production the personality is objectivized; in need the thing is
subjectivized,” noted Marx"
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Can I go on?
Andy
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| - Andy Blunden - Home Page - http://home.mira.net/~andy/index.htm - |
| All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational |
| solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.|
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