In Search of the Unknown: Introduction to the Special Issue

The problem of aesthetic perception occupied Vygotsky throughout his life. Working in different research collectives or networks he worked out different answers but never reached a final solution. Inadequate and incomplete access to his writings unfortunately hinders us from understanding Vygotsky’s ideas and his personal motives. Publication of his notebooks and unadulterated versions of his writings plus an analysis of his research networks will deepen our understanding.     

Chasing Vygotsky’s Dogs: Retrieving Lev Vygotsky’s Philosophy for a Workers’ Paradise

In an article published in 1930, Lev Vygotsky refers explicitly to the seventeenth century Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza. From a close reading of Vygotsky’s remarkable piece, ‘The socialist transformation of man,’ the extraordinary parallels in the lives and philosophies of Vygotsky and Spinoza are revealed. Then the strengths and weaknesses are assessed of the analytical approach Vygotsky may have inherited from Spinoza. It is suggested that there are analytical ramifications arising from Vygotsky’s possible reliance on Spinoza’s nuanced but essentially dualistic philosophy. The conclusion is that the key limitation of this methodology is the elision of radical doubting with radical unknowability.     

Prospects for a Cultural-historical Psychology of Intelligence

The ideas of cultural-historical psychology have led to a new understanding of the human psyche as developing in the process of the subject acting in social and historical contexts. Such a “non-classical” reinterpretation of psychological concepts should be based on a theoretical and philosophical framework in order to explain genetic sources of these concepts. For this purpose, Il’enkov’s philosophy is of great significance. This is illustrated by discussing a possible cultural-historical understanding of the concept of intelligence. “If we enrich Vygotsky’s ideas with Il’enkov’s basic postulates, modern psychology and pedagogy will take a considerable step forward in study of the genesis and development of consciousness and of the individual subject of activity” (Davydov 1998, 92).     

To Moscow with Love: Partial Reconstruction of Vygotsky’s Trip to London

The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) left the Soviet Union only once to attend a conference on the education of the deaf in London. So far almost nothing was known about this trip, which took place in a period when Vygotsky was still completely unknown as a psychologist, both inside his own country and abroad. Making use of a newly discovered notebook, it proved possible to partially reconstruct Vygotsky’s journey and stay in London. Vygotsky’s very personal remarks show him to have been a very sensitive and spirited man, who was prey to strong emotions during the conference and afterwards. Rather surprisingly, Vygotsky’s own paper about the education of the deaf was never presented during the conference and the stay in London appears to have had a limited value for his own scientific development.     

Psychology is About Persons: On Brinkmann’s Expansion of Harré’s Hybrid Psychology

Brinkmann has recently put forward an integrative theory of the mind by expanding Harré’s hybrid psychology. The theory is integrative because it establishes that in order for one to gain a full understanding of the mind—which is represented as a set of dispositions—one has to take into account theories about the brain, the body, social practices, and technological artifacts. All of these are said to be ‘mediators’ upon which the mind depends. An important claim underlying the theory is that in psychology the basic ontological unit is the person. We agree with Brinkmann both on this and on the dispositional nature of the mind. Still, he does not make a strong case for the latter. Furthermore, we believe the concept of mediation is by no means helpful to produce an integrative view in psychology, not only because the theoretical job of such a concept is unclear but also because qua unifying concept it may end up undermining the ontological primacy of the person (in psychology). In this paper we refer to these issues and suggest some ideas that may help improve Brinkmann’s (and Harré’s) proposal.     

Abstract rationality in education: from Vygotsky to Brandom

Abstract rationality has increasingly been a target of attack in contemporary educational research and practice and in its place practical reason and situated thinking have become a focus of interest. The argument here is that something is lost in this. In illustrating how we might think about the issue, this paper makes a response to the charge that as a result of his commitment to the ‘Enlightenment project’ Vygotsky holds abstract rationality as the pinnacle of thought. Against this it is argued that Vygotsky had a far more sophisticated appreciation of reason and of its remit. The paper proceeds first by examining the picture of Vygotsky that is presented in the work of James Wertsch, and especially his claim that Vygotsky was an ambivalent rationalist, goes on to provide an account of Vygotsky that corrects this picture, and develops this in the light of the work of Robert Brandom, who shares Vygotsky’s inheritance of Hegel. The conclusion towards which this piece points is that the philosophical underpinnings of Vygotsky’s work provide a radically different idea of rationality and epistemology from that characterised as abstract rationality and that this has significance for education studies.

社会建构论心理学对维果茨基思想的继承和发展

维果茨基理论为社会建构论的产生与发展奠定了基础,社会建构论从维果茨基思想中汲取了丰富的营养,并从多方面丰富发展了维果茨基的社会建构思想。社会建构论心理学沿袭了维果茨基的反叛精神,继承并发展了维果茨基倡导的认识论和发展观,借鉴了维果茨基提出的工具论和方法论,对现代心理学的基本预设进行了根本性动摇和冲击     

Vygotsky in English: What Still Needs to Be Done

At present readers of English have still limited access to Vygotsky’s writings. Existing translations are marred by mistakes and outright falsifications. Analyses of Vygotsky’s work tend to downplay the collaborative and experimental nature of his research. Several suggestions are made to improve this situation. New translations are certainly needed and new analyses should pay attention to the contextual nature of Vygotsky’s thinking and research practice.     

Getting Vygotskian about theory of mind: Mediation,dialogue, and the development of social understanding

The ideas of Vygotsky [Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, (Vol. 1). New York: Plenum. (Original work published 1934.)] have been increasingly influential in accounting for social–environmental influences on the development of social understanding (SU). In the first part of this article, I examine how Vygotskian ideas have to date been recruited to explanations of the development of SU. Next, I present a model of SU development which draws on two implications of Vygotsky’s ideas: the importance of semiotic mediation for mental functioning, and the dialogic nature of the higher mental functions. I then consider the value of the proposed model in accounting for evidence from three areas of enquiry: the typical development of SU in infancy and early childhood, relations between individual differences in SU and social–environmental variables, and atypical development. The model is suggested to be particularly helpful in understanding the transition from intentional-agent to mental-agent understanding, and the role of language in SU. Remaining challenges include a need to specify further the cognitive processes underlying internalization, and to gather more extensive evidence on the roles of typical and atypical social experience in SU development.     

The Mind as Skills and Dispositions: On Normativity and Mediation

On the occasion of the critique of Alfredo Gaete and Carlos Cornejo, this article explains and extends the hybrid theory of the mind that I recently presented in this journal. Taking inspiration from Rom Harré’s program for a hybrid psychology, the theory is supposed to be integrative and aims to broaden Harré’s hybrid psychology by including not just the brain, but also the body, social practices, and technological artifacts as mediators of the mind. The mind is understood not as a substance of any kind, but as a set of skills and dispositions to act, think, and feel. This implies a normative view of the mind, according to which psychological phenomena do not simply happen, but are done, and can consequently be done more or less well. I provide arguments in favor of grounding psychology in normativity rather than conscious experience, and I explain why the emphasis on mediators does not represent a threat to the ontological primacy of the person in psychology.     

From Vygotsky to Vygotskian psychology: introduction to the history of the Kharkov School

Around the end of the 1920s, Vygotsky introduced his integrative framework for psycho-logical research to the Soviet Union. This framework was not abandoned and forgotten until its rediscovery in Russia and America in the 1950s, as some claim. In fact, even after his untimely death in 1934, Vygotsky remained the spiritual leader of a group of his for-mer students and collaborators, who became known as the Kharkov School. This paper reconstructs the early intellectual history of Vygotskian psychology, as it emerged, around the time of Vygotsky's death, in the research program of the Kharkov School.     

Concerning Interpretations of Activity Theory

Activity theory (AT) is the most recognised part of Russian psychology outside Russia. However the general view of AT in international science is rather unilateral, lacking substantial aspects and areas necessary for proper understanding. This article is aimed at expanding the image of AT dominant in the mainstream which reduces the AT trend to A.N. Leontiev’s theory. This reduction impoverishes the creative potentialities of the trend, and decreases the ability of AT to contribute to international science. We aim to reveal that AT is not limited to Leontiev’s approach, to explain which ideas of the founders of AT, S.L. Rubinstein and L.S. Vygotsky, were pursued and which were rejected by A.N. Leontiev, and to assess another important contribution to the AT trend - the theory of B.G. Ananiev, where the ideas of AT’s founders were developed which were not succeeded by A.N. Leontiev. Historical causes and consequences of the general reduction of the image of AT in the mainstream to Leontiev’s theory are considered: why the discrepancies between views of Rubinstein, Vygotsky and Leontiev were hardly ever discussed in public and why other theories contemporary to Leontiev’s theory were never given account appropriate to their value in Russia and remain almost unknown abroad.     

Automatically deriving readers’ knowledge structures from texts

Latent semantic analysis (LSA) serves as both a theory and a method for representing the meaning of words based on a statistical analysis of their contextual usage (Foltz, 1996; Landauer & Dumais, 1997). In experiments in the domains of psychology and history, we compared the representation of readers’ knowledge structures of information learned from texts with the representation generated by LSA. Results indicated that LSA’s representation is similar to readers’ representations. In addition, the degree to which the reader’s representation is similar to LSA’s representation is indicative of the amount of knowledge the reader has acquired and of the reader’s reading ability. This approach has implications both as a model of learning from text and as a practical tool for performing knowledge assessment.     

Towards an Expansive Hybrid Psychology: Integrating Theories of the Mediated Mind

This article develops an integrative theory of the mind by examining how the mind, understood as a set of skills and dispositions, depends upon four sources of mediators. Harré’s hybrid psychology is taken as a meta-theoretical starting point, but is expanded significantly by including the four sources of mediators that are the brain, the body, social practices and technological artefacts. It is argued that the mind is normative in the sense that mental processes do not simply happen, but can be done more or less well, and thus are subject to normative appraisal. The expanded hybrid psychology is meant to assist in integrating theoretical perspectives and research interests that are often thought of as incompatible, among them neuroscience, phenomenology of the body, social practice theory and technology studies. A main point of the article is that these perspectives each are necessary for an integrative approach to the human mind.     

It’s in your nature: a pluralistic folk psychology

I suggest a pluralistic account of folk psychology according to which not all predictions or explanations rely on the attribution of mental states, and not all intentional actions are explained by mental states. This view of folk psychology is supported by research in developmental and social psychology. It is well known that people use personality traits to predict behavior. I argue that trait attribution is not shorthand for mental state attributions, since traits are not identical to beliefs or desires, and an understanding of belief or desire is not necessary for using trait attributions. In addition, we sometimes predict and explain behavior through appeal to personality traits that the target wouldn’t endorse, and so could not serve as the target’s reasons. I conclude by suggesting that our folk psychology includes the notion that some behavior is explained by personality traits—who the person is—rather than by beliefs and desires—what the person thinks. Consequences of this view for the debate between simulation theory and theory theory, as well as the debate on chimpanzee theory of mind are discussed.     

From Rogers to Clinebell: Exploring the History of Pastoral Psychology

This essay explores the recent history of pastoral psychology by examining the transition from Carl Rogers’s client-centered therapy as a dominating force to the emergence of Howard Clinebell’s growth counseling. The theory and application of each approach is explored, including an analysis of how the cultural milieu of World War II and the shift to neofreudian thought influenced both Rogers and Clinebell. Finally, this essay demonstrates how Clinebell modified Rogers’s client-centered therapy by combining confrontation with unconditional positive regard.     

Heinrich Hertz’s Neo-Kantian Philosophy of Science, and its Development by Harald Høffding

Summary  This article is an investigation of parallel themes in Heinrich Hertz’s philosophy science and Kant’s theory of schemata, symbols and regulative ideas. It is argued that Hertz’s “pictures” bears close similarities to Kantian “schemata”, that is, they are rules linking concepts to intuitions and provide them with their meaning. Kant’s distinction between symbols and schemata is discussed and related to Hertz’s three pictures of mechanics. It is argued that Hertz considered his own picture of mechanics (the “hidden mass” picture) as symbolic in a different way than the force and energy pictures. In the final part of the article it is described how Harald H?ffding soon after the publication of Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics developed a general theory of analogical reasoning, relying on the ideas of Hertz and Kant.     

Evald Il’enkov as an Interpreter of Spinoza

E.V. Il’enkov is regarded as perhaps the most “Spinozist” of Soviet philosophers. He used Spinoza’s ideas extensively, especially in developing his concept of the ideal and in his attempts to give a more precise philosophical formulation to the “activity approach” of the cultural- historical school of Soviet psychology. A more detailed analysis reveals, however, that Il’enkov’s reception of Spinoza was highly selective, and that there are substantial differences between them.     

Writing Autobiography as Desperate Spiritual Art: A Narrative Psychological Approach to Nick Flynn’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Another Bullshit Night in Suck City</Emphasis>

Nick Flynn’s memoir about his troubled relationship with his father is analyzed as an example of desperately practiced spiritual art using the narrative psychology of Michael White and David Epston. Reflections on the history of autobiography are combined with psychotherapeutic explorations into the significance of telling deeply troubling stories. White and Epston’s metaphors of externalizing conversations, noting exceptions, and recruiting an audience are implemented in the case of Flynn’s identification with his father’s alcoholism, his identification with his father’s writing aspirations, and his identification with his father’s body.