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Re: [xmca] catharsis and category



Page 26 of 40 in the April 1988 edition of the Newsletter
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/Histarch/ap88v10n2.PDF
"Theatre as a Model System for Learning to Create" by Yrjo Engestrom and Timo Kallinen.
Deals with Stanislavski and so on.

Andy
mike cole wrote:
Yrjo Engestrom has an article in our newletter files from the 1980's in which he discusses Stanislavski and Vygotsky, I believe. It should be obtainable using google at lchc.ucsd.edu <http://lchc.ucsd.edu>.
mike

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 12:19 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:

    Sorry Robert, in the midst of everything I missed this message.
    Short answer is that I don't know (and my partner, Vonney always
    says that I should shut up at that point), but Stanislavsky,
    Eisenstein and company were, I understand, friends of Vygotsky's
    from his student days, but others will have to speak on that
    topic. I am definitively *not *a historian. In any case, I am
    seeing if I can strike up a conversation with an expert on that
    period of Russian drama, who is outside of psychology, to get to
    the bottom of it all.

    Andy

    Robert Lake wrote:

        Andy,
        I appreciate your trace of the history of this word and wonder
        if "category" in the theatrical sense might also be connected
        to LSV, and Stanislavsky's notion of genre  ?
         /Robert L.
        /
        On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 10:51 AM, Andy Blunden
        <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
        <mailto:ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>> wrote:

           I should report on the outcome of my investigations of this
           question. Nikolai Veresov and I have met and agreed only
        that we
           cannot agree, so, so far as I know he retains his position,
        but I
           will leave it Nikolai to say what that is. I cannot speak
        for him.

           However, I have verified that the word /kategoria/, was
        translated
           from Greek via Latin into English as "predicament" and from
        1580,
           meant "predicament" in the sense of a "problematic
        situation" and
           whatismore "kategoria" is used to this day in Rhetoric and in a
           broadly similar sense, but only in highly specialist
        discourses.
           Not "category," just "kategoria." There is some evidence
        also that
           kategoria is used in the theory of theatre in a similar
        sense to
           this day. So, I have to give some plausibility to the claim
        that
           the word had such a sense in Vygotsky's circle of theatrical
           friends in Moscow before he went into psychology, but I cannot
           document it from that time. "Predicement" remains the technical
           word in theatre for the situation from which a plot
        develops, the
           source of the basic tension which drives the story. I have long
           been of the view, on the basis of reading Volume 5 of the
        LSV CW,
           that the "social situation of development" can be
        characterised in
           Vygotsky's view, as a "predicament." But I made the connection
           with a Marxist view of history, not the theory of theatre.

           On Catharsis, I have found the source of this concept in
        Freud and
           an article by Freud is attached. It is called "working
        through" in
           this article. Interesting. It makes sense.

           Thank you Anton, and Huw for your insights,
           Andy

           Andy Blunden wrote:

               Thank you Huw. Very encrouaging. "Resolution" seems to
        capture
               a lot of it.

               I have consulted the OED On-line for "*category*" and found
               nothing surprising about its meaning, as used by
        Aristotle and
               Kant and in mathematics, more or less meaning "class" but
               extendable to abstract concepts. But what OED did tell me,
               which adds yet another intriguing thread to the puzzle, is
               that its Latin roots mean "predicament," and in olden days,
               "category" used to be translated as "predicament."

               Now "predicament" here is related to "predicate" as in
        subject
               and predicate, a key metaphysical distinction for Aristotle
               and dialectics generally, but it forces me to reflect
        on the
               relation of "predicament" - and therefore "category" - to
               "situation", as in "social situation of development,"
        which I
               have always said, based on how Vygotsky uses the term,
        should
               be understood as a "predicament," but in the common
        usage of
               this word as a situation or trap, from which one must
        make a
               development in order to escape.

               *Catharsis*, according to OED is the Greek word meaning
               "cleansing" or "purging," which is of course what is
        commonly
               understood by the word. With reference to Aristotle is
        means
               "the purification of the emotions by vicarious experience."
               Vicarious!? The Freudian usage you referred to (thank you),
               Huw, is "The process of relieving an abnormal excitement by
               re-establishing the association of the emotion with the
        memory
               or idea of the event which was the first cause of it,
        and of
               eliminating it by abreaction."  This sounds very much
        like how
               I have understood Vygotsky to be using the term!!


               All that is fine. A true detective story, as Anton
        says! But
               what is the Russian word which is a unity of these
        disparate
               concepts??!!


               :)

               Andy





               Huw Lloyd wrote:



                   On 9 June 2011 08:24, Andy Blunden
        <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
                   <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
        <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
        <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
                   <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
        <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>>> wrote:

                      I have been watching Nikolai Veresov's videos on
        vimeo.
                   I refer to
                      No. 2 in particular:
                   http://vimeo.com/groups/chat/videos/10226589
                      In this talk, Nikolai is explaining his view of the
                   development of
                      Vygotsky's theory of the development of the high
        mental
                   functions
                      through the appropriation of social functions,
        and in
                   doing so, he
                      appears to be mistaking the English word
        "category" for the
                      English word "catharsis."


                   I think that there is an issue with the English
        (Freudian)
                   use of "catharsis" that refers to expression without
                   genuine influence, which a) I don't think is
        cathartic and
                   b) not what was intended in psychology of art, i.e.
                   achieving, or identifying with, a genuine change (or
                   resolution), even if only a resolution of a staged
                   performance (identification), or some other art.

                   This notion of "real" catharsis then becomes more
        related
                   to the notion of category.

                   In my studies and thinking I have been happy with
                   Nikolai's use of the term category and it's relation to
                   stage.  With respect to plan/plane correspondences
        there
                   are several overlapping aspects, which seem to be quite
                   precisely captured by this otherwise ambiguous term
        (joint
                   context, intention and topological representation).

                   The dramatic conflict (category) has correspondence
        with
                   (distributed) self-organisation.  The social
        participation
                   of emotionally led behaviour leads to structured
        forms of
                   participation, e.g. acquiring new coordinating
        structures
                   in the process of achieving one's goals.

                   Huw



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-- *Robert Lake Ed.D.
        *Assistant Professor
        Social Foundations of Education
        Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
        Georgia Southern University
        P. O. Box 8144
        Phone: (912) 478-5125
        Fax: (912) 478-5382
        Statesboro, GA  30460

         /Democracy must be born anew in every generation, and
        education is its midwife./
        /-/John Dewey.



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    *Andy Blunden*
    Joint Editor MCA:
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    <http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title%7Edb=all%7Econtent=g932564744>
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Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
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