Understanding Vygotsky: A Quest for Synthesis

455 Pages·1991·103.617 MB·English

by  René van der Veer, Jaan Valsiner

UNDERSTANDING VYGOTSKY:
A QUEST FOR SYNTHESIS
If?)
UNDERSTANDING
VYGOTSKY:
A QUEST FOR SYNTHESIS
René van der Veer and Jaan Valsiner
BLACKWELL
OxfodUK&Can-brinkUSA
Copyright©RenévanderVeerandjaanValsiner 1991
TherightofRene’vanderVeerandjaanValsinertobeidentifiedasauthorsof
thisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordancewith theCopyright.Designsand
PatentsAct1988.
Firstpublished1991
BaSIlBlackwell,Inc.
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Allrightsreserved.Exceptforthequotationofshortpassagesforthepurposes
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conditionthatitshallnot,bywayoftradeorotherwise.belent,resold,hired
out,orotherwrsecirculatedWithoutthepublisher'spriorconsentinanyform
ofbindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhich itispublishedandwithouta
similarconditionincludingthisconditionbeingimposedonthesubsequent
purchaser.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Veer,Rene’vander,1952-
UnderstandingVygotsky:AQuestforsynthesisIRenévanderVeer
andjaanValsiner
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-63146528-2
I- Vygotski,L.S.(LevSemenovich),1896—1934.
2.Psychologists--SovietUnion. I.Valsinet.jaan. I].Title.
BF]09.V95V44 1991
150'.92--dczo 90-19342
CIP
ACIPcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
Typesetin10on12ptSabon
byAcornBookwork,Salisbury,Wiltshire
PrintedinGreatBritainbyTJ.PressLtd,Padstow,Cornwall
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper
Contents
Illustrations vii
Preface viii
Introduction
1 LevVygotslty
I}?LiteratureandArt
PARTI TheFirstYearsinMoscow 1924—1928
Introduction
PedagogicalPsychology 48
Defectology 60
TheRoleofPsychoanalysis 78
m\\IO\ KonstantinKornilovandHisReactology 112
gkl’lh .a CrisisinPsychology 141
be, Vygotsky andGestaltPsychology 155
PART1] TheCultural-HistoricalTheory1923—1932
Introduction 183
Cultural-HistoricalTheory 187
TheExpeditionstoCentralAsia 242
11 TheUniverseofWords:
Vygotsky'sViewonConcept-formation 256
PART[II Moscow,Kharkov,andLeningrad 1932—1934
Introduction 287
12 Vygotsky thePaedologist 293
Vi CONTENTS
1} EducationandDevelopment 328
14 Emorions:InSearchofaNewApproach 349
15 AFinalWord 360
I6 Criticisms 373
Epilogue 390
References 401
IndexofNames 441
IndexofSubjects 449
Illustrations
Vygotsky’s studentcardatMoscow University.Atthetimehe
studiedlawandstillspelledhisnamewith “d".
Vygotsky,hisdaughterGita,andhiswifeRosaSmekhovaduring
afilmedpsychologicalexperiment. 54
Inthespringof1929Vygotsky lecturedforseveralmonths in
Tashkent. 244
III-h AportraitofLevVygotsky. 291
LevVygotsky. 391
Preface
Inwritingthisbookwehavereachedamilestoneinthedevelopmentofour
understandingofhowscientificideasmigratebetweencountriesbywayof
the intellectualpursuitsofindividualpersonsembedded in theircultural
contexts. The understanding of the major ideas of Lev Vygotsky that
emergesfromthepagesofthisbookistheresultofyearsofefforttomake
senseofthecomplex,fascinatingand,attimes,capriciouscreativityofthat
Russian/jewish literaryscholar(turnedpsychologist).Foroneofus,(René
vanderVeer),understandingVygotskyhasbeenalong-termprojectwhich
hasdelveddeeplyintotheintricaciesoftheRussianlanguageandliterature
toproduceanunderstandingofVygotsky’s contributions(VanderVeer,
CultuurenCognitie,Groningen:Wolters-Noordhoff,1985).Fortheother
author, (Iaan Valsiner), work on this book has helped to review some
aSpectsofhisintellectualandsocialbackgroundswhich (since1980)hehas
beendeveloping.TheIntroductionandEpilogue,andchapters2,6,8and
12werewrittenbyValsiner;theremainderofthebookisbyVanderVeer.
Butthefinalproduct ismorethanthesumofourindividualefforts.Our
personaldifferencesinfocusandStylehaveworkedwell incomplementing
eachother:whileoneofushasbeen nearlyoverwhelmed bymicroscopic
details,theother’sinstinctiveurgeforgeneralizationshaskepttheprojectin
focus;andwhen oneofushas impatientlyrushed tomake far-reaching
general statementsaboutthestateofaffairs inpsychology,theotherhas
takenhim(orher-atributetoAPA-styleequality!)backtothedetails.This
combinationofpersonalperspectiveshashelpedustowriteatreatiseonthe
lifeandworkofVygotskywhich (wehope)willrevealtheintricaciesofthe
historyofhisideaswithouttheneed forthereaderofthisbook totakea
“Vygotskianperspective"whiletryingtomakesenseofour(sometimesvery
detailed)analyses.Inanyscience,itisusuallytheardentfollowersofsome
interestingtheoreticalsystemwhorendersuchasystemadogmaticortho-
PREFACE ix
doxy.Asaresultthefreshnessoftheoriginalideasmay disappearasthe
unquestionedorthodoxyisaccepted.Ouraiminthisbookistorestoredie
freshnessofVygotsky’s ideasby way ofrevealingtheways inwhich his
thinkingborrowedconceptsfromhispredecessorsandcontemporaries,to
analyzetheseideas,andtosuggestnewsolutionstotheproblemsheraises.
Inordertopreservethisaim(onemightcallitanattemptatanarchaeology
ofideas)wehavedeliberatelydecidedtoavoidoverviewingthemyriadof
interpretationsofVygotsky'swork inthepastfewdecades.Thattaskisa
differentchallengeworthy ofaseparatevolume.
Thework onthisbook wasmadepossibleonlybygenerousassistance
fromanumberofpeoplewhohelpedustoobtaindifferentoriginalmaterial
aboutVygotsky,andcopiesofhisoriginalpublications.Firstandforemost,
thetrustandfriendshipofGitaL’vovnaVygodskajaistobeacknowledged
with deep gratitude.She (andher relatives)receivedVan derVeer most
kindly,gavehimaccesstothefamilyarchives,andansweredmanyofour
questions. In addition, she gave permission to use part ofVygotsky’s
correspondenceannotatedbyA.A.Puzyrej.AndrejPuzyrejhimself—oneof
the greatest authoritieson Vygotsky’s work —was extremely helpful in
makinganumberofrarepublicationsandunpublishedmaterialsavailable
and by sharing his insights with us. Elena Aleksandrovna Luria, too,
receivedVanderVeerinamostfriendlyfashionandallowedhimtowork
withthefamilyarchives.AlsoI.M.Arievich,A.G.Asmolov,G.Blanck,V.
V.Davydov,N.Elrod,T.M.Lifanova,L.Mecacci,L.A.Radzikhovsky,A.
Stetsenko,P.Tulviste,In.A.Vasil'eva, and F.Vidal helped out in the
tediousprocessoflocatingrarematerials,andNadiaZilperoftheUniversity
ofNorthCarolinaLibrarywashelpfulinbuildingupagoodcollectionof
Russian/SovietpsychologytextsintheUS.8.jaegerprovideduswithseveral
ofLuria‘sletterstoW.KohlerandS.F.DobkinandP.Ja.Gal’peringave
their personal views of Vygotsky in conversationswith Van der Veer.
G.Blanck and G.L.Vygodskaja provided us with the photographs of
Vygotsky showninthisbook.Incompilingthelistofreferenceswemade
ampleuseofT.M-Lifanova’svaluablelistofVygotsky'swritingspublished
intheSovieteditionofhis collectedworks. Kurt Kreppnerbroughtour
attentiontotheremarkablesimilaritiesbetweentheideasofVygotskyand
somekey notions ofWilliam Stern.The full extentofthat connection
remainstobe analyzed and isbeyond the scopeofthisbook.Madlena
Maksimovagavehelpfulcommentsonanearlierdraftofthebook.
WealsowanttoexpressourgratitudetoNWO (NederlandseStichting
voorWetenschappelijk0nderzoek)fortheirfinancialsupport,whichallowed
Van derVeer to spendthreemonths inChapelHill,North Carolina,in
1986and which made itpossible forValsiner tovisittheUniversity of
leiden in the summer of 1988. However, we have borh sustained a
x PREFACE
remarkablytenacioussearchforourownsynthesisofanunderstandingof
thelifeandwork ofLevVygotsky.Thus,nobodybutourselvescantake
responsibilityfortheanalysesthereaderwill findinthisbook.
Researchingthisbookhasbeenanexerciseindetectivework.Repeatedly
wecameacrossalterationstothehistoryofVygotsky’sworkinpsychology
- sometimes deliberate, sometimes unintentional. Not surprisingly,we
reactedvehementlytoeachunsubstantiatedmyth,andthereaderwillsense
thesereactionsinanumberofplacesinthisbook.Onreflectionwewonder
whyweweresoagitatedwhenwediscoveredthewaysinwhichVygotsky
has been painted as a “guru"-figure of Soviet (andsomeinternational)
psychology.Afterall,historiesarewritten (andre-written)afterthefactin
ordertobefunctionalfortheneedsofthepresenttimeandplace.Neverthe-
less,therealizationthataproductivehistoricalfigureinvolvedinthegenesis
ofpsychology isvaluedby succeedinggenerationsmerely inadeclarative
manneriscauseforconcern.Thisconcernissharpenedwhenoneconsiders
the myriad of Vygotsky’s half-developed ideas which could be highly
productiveforcontemporarypsychology onlyiftheyweredevelopedand
notacceptedunquestioningly.Itisourhopethatthisbookwill stimulate
readerstolookbeyondVygotsky’sintellectualheritagetohisconsistently
developmentalapproachtoallpsychologicalphenomena.
RenévanderVeer
jaanValsinet
LeidenandChapelHill
Every inventor,even agenius,isalwaystheoutgrowth ofhis
timeand environment.His creativity stemsfrom thoseneeds
thatwerecreatedbeforehim,andrestsuponthosepossibilities
that,again,existoutsideofhim.Thatiswhy wenotice strict
continuity in the historical development of technology and
science.Noinventionorscientificdiscoveryappearsbeforethe
material and psychological conditions are created that are
necessary for its emergence. Creativity is a historically con-
tinuousprocess inwhich everynextformisdeterminedby its
preceedingones.
Lev Vygotsky,Voobrazhenieitvorchestvovdetskomvozraste