Re: [xmca] Pseudoconcept, Preconcept, Potential Concept

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

Thanks for the latte and the clarifying comments, David. Reading ch5 yet
again alongside Paula and Carol's article on cross-dressing wolves. Will add
this.
mike

On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 4:40 PM, David Kellogg <vaughndogblack@yahoo.com>wrote:

> What EXACTLY is the relationship between these three terms? Attached is an
> essay-lette by Paula which tries to address this question on the basis of
> Chapter Five which she has kindly allowed me to distribute.
>
> Paula argues, suitably, that there are really THREE different processes
> here.
>
> a) The child's ability to GENERALIZE, to impose SIMILARITIES on top of
> differences. Vygotsky calls this the ability to create generalized
> representations and notes that the result may look like a concept, act like
> a concept, but it is structurally not a concept (because it lacks
> voluntary abstraction)
>
> b) The child's ability to ISOLATE and ABSTRACT AWAY traits such as color,
> weight, size from other traits. Vygotsky sees this as as the very opposite
> tendency from generalization, because it involves focussing on how one trait
> is different from another (and consequently allows the child to
> differentiate traits within the object itself and not simply between them.
>
> c) The child's ability to FREE him/herself from the visual field. Vygotsky
> sees this as one of the key byproducts of play, and it seems to me that this
> more than anything else is what divides him from Piaget, for whom all play
> is a form of assimilation rather than a liberation from the perceptual
> field.
>
> Do these three different processes correspond to three different
> terminologies? That is, does the pseudoconcept correspond to the product of
> generalization, the preconcept to the process of abstraction, and the
> potential concept to that of liberatoin from the visual field?
>
> Paula doesn't think so. Paula says that the pseudoconcept, the preconcept,
> and the potential concept are three alternative terms for the same thing: a
> elusive rope bridge connecting the complexive formations and the true
> concept that must necessarily include three strands.
>
> David Kellogg
> Seoul National University of Education
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
>
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca