Anna,
I know in the notes of the Ruusian edition he is called a reactionary,
pedocentric (childcentered), bourgeois philosopher. I am less clear of the
date here because its a footnote for a piece that was published in 1929, but
there are also Russian footnotes for other pieces that state "it is being
published for the first time here". If this refers to the collected works
(Russian edition) Volume 1, it is given as published in 1982. Here is the
footnote,
" A reactionaryAmerican philosopher, a pedalougue and theoretician, one of
the leading represenatives of pragmatism. He developed the concept of
instumentalism. Hewas an ideolougue of bourgeois liberalism, the creater of
the so-called pedocentric (child centered) theory and instructional methods.
Vygotsky mentioned Dewey's definition of the significance of words as
"intellectual tools".
Wish I could be more help, there is great interest on the relationship
between Dewey and Vygotsky - something more should be out there. The
article I mentioned earlier was written in the late 80's so even less info
was available. Tolman was the author and published in a journal called
Activity Theory I believe.
Nate
-----Original Message-----
From: Stetsenko, Anna [mailto:AStetsenko@gc.cuny.edu]
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 1:48 PM
To: 'xmca@weber.ucsd.edu'
Subject: Dynamics re: Dewey
Dear Nate, 1952 and 1959 were not the last editions of Soviet Encyclopedia.
There have been at least several since then, the latest, as I remember,
bublished during or shortly befor Perestrojka. Do you have quotes from
there? It would be interesting to compare the dynamics of perception of
Dewey over time not just the Stalin's period (ans hsortly after), I strongly
suspect there was a dynamic since these times and into Gorbachev's and even
Brezhnev's? Just curious...
Anna
-----Original Message-----
From: Nate Schmolze [mailto:nate_schmolze@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 9:07 AM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: RE: whew!!
I have to admit when I read "Where's Dewey" the show Macolm in the Middle
came to mind. A question that runs throughout the episodes of little Dewey
being lost in the chaos of life.
Mike, one of the pieces I found in x-archive was about Dewey that explores
his disappearance (and changing referencing in the Soviet context).
http://communication.ucsd.edu/MCA/Paper/leontev/activity/tolman.htm
Here is a parargraph from Tolman's piece,
Dewey was described in 1931 by the Great Soviet Encyclopedia as "an
outstanding American philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, and pedagogue"
(quoted in Brickman, 1959). In the 1952 edition this had changed to "a
reactionary bourgeois philosopher and sociologist." In the same year a book
by Shevkin described Dewey as the "henchman of contemporary imperialist
reaction" and "wicked enemy of...all freedom-loving peoples on our earth"
(quoted in Brickman, 1959). There had begun a deliberate withdrawal of overt
interest in Dewey and all foreign, non-Marxist influences in philosophy and
the social sciences by virtue of a decree of the Central Committee of the
CPSU(B) in January, 1931, but the real cause of the hostility voiced later
was Dewey's outspoken condemnation of the Moscow Trials and Stalinism in
general. The final straw for both sides came with Dewey's chairmanship of
the Trotsky Inquiry in Mexico in 1938.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Cole [mailto:mcole@weber.ucsd.edu]
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2000 3:57 PM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: whew!!
I have been reading October's discussion for about an hour and I am only
a little over half way through the month! So many interesting ideas/
clarifications/confusions/......
I will return to reading in a moment, but a few comments while I can
keep them in my deteriorating short term memory!
1. VraszhIvanie as "rooting" as a synonym for interiorization in Vygotsky--
thanks to victor: Rooting and copying sure do seem different to me and
give me a lot to think about.
2. I, too, wondered where Dewey's reflex arc paper was in this discussion.
For sure Dewey was familiar to ANL. This became relevant again when Bill
quoted ANL in a passage which first made me wonder, where is Dewey?
"All activity has a circular structure: initial afferentation >
effector processes regulating contacts with the objective
environment > correction and enrichment by means of reverse
connections of the original afferent image. Now the circular
character of the processes that realize the interaction of the
organism with the environment appears to be universally recognized
and sufficiently well described in the literature.
---- The circular structure part is fine with me but why start with the initial afferentation? What's initial?This resonates, Paul, with the "in the beginning is the word" versus "in the beginning is the deed" discussion that has been floating through here.
Great summary of ch2.
Back to reading. mike
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