As it turns out, the next issue of mca will have a paper and two commentaries
on Vygotsky, Dewey and Pierce.
I think people are talking about different papers. Glassman wrote in Ed Researcher and has three differentia he thinks are important that distinguish
vygotsky and dewey. Prawat, who has a paper in an earlier MCA wrote a paper
for Amer Ed Research Jrnl where he uses Dewey's Grandaughter's diaries to
make the case that the two met.
There is also an interesting piece by Valsiner in Revista de la historia
Psichologia about pragmatism and vygotsky.
And an article by Koschmann, Kuuti, and Hickman on Heidegger, Dewey, and
Vygotsky in MCA a while back.
My own approach to these efforts is one of intense interest and scepticism.
The evidence of Dewey and Vygotsky having actually met I take to be an
excess of imagination based on inadequate evidence. Different "descriptions"
of "the" ideas of any of the players differ from one commentator to the
next, sometimes for the same texts, sometimes through selection of different
texts for commentary.
EXTREME humility and circumspection in making claims in this very interesting
and important domain of discussion seems the best route to follow.
mike
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