Transcript Document

Vygotsky & the Concept of
Consciousness
A talk by Andy Blunden
18th February 2011
Vygotsky’s Immanent Critique of Reflexology
Reflexology
Subjective Psychology
Immanent critique
consciousness
physiology
behaviour
Immanent critique
Behaviourism
Excludes any notion of consciousness
Physiological Behaviourism
Social Behaviourism
Behaviourism
(1) Aims to predict and control behaviour
(2) Excludes evidence proffered by the Subject
(3) Excludes any notion of consciousness
(4) Takes human beings as uncultured brutes
Physiological Behaviourism
Social Behaviourism
Behaviourism
Physiological Behaviourism
Social Behaviourism
The Ontology of Consciousness
“The question is whether in introspection
phenomenon and being coincide” and quoting
Lenin: “the only ‘property’ of matter connected
with philosophical materialism is the property
of being an objective reality, of existing outside
of our consciousness ... the concept of matter
means nothing other than objective reality,
existing independently from human
consciousness and reflected by it.”
Vygotsky
The Ontology of Consciousness
“My relation to my environment is my
consciousness.”
Marx
The Ontology of Consciousness
“what for me is a mental, non-material,
suprasensory act, is in itself a material,
sensory act.”
Feuerbach
The Ontology of Consciousness
Unit of Analysis
Herder
↓
Goethe
↓
Hegel
↓
Marx
Unit of Analysis
“Pavlov perceived the general in
the particular”
“For the reflexologists,
everything is a reflex”
Romantic Science
Gestalt
Urphänomen
Units, Elements, Microcosms, Attributes
and Archetypes
Unit vs. Element:
Every unit exhibits all the properties of the whole
Unit is always the unit
of a Gestalt, and is
itself a complete organism
Units, Elements, Microcosms, Attributes
and Archetypes
Unit vs. Attribute:
An attribute is just a contingent property, not the
subject itself
x&y
x
y
Units, Elements, Microcosms, Attributes
and Archetypes
Archetype vs. Microcosm:
Microcosm is the most developed unit;
Archetype is the simplest unit.
Unit of Analysis
Word meaning (unit for verbal thinking)
Joint artefact-mediated action (unit for the intellect)
Perezhivanie = Lived experience or adventure
(unit for development of personality)
Thinking and Speech
Thinking which is beyond words
“Thinking aloud”
Pseudo- and
Potential
Concepts
Communicative
Speech
speech
Development of Intellect (Concepts)
Development of Speech
Inner Speech
“True”
Concepts
concepts
Pre-Intellectual Speech and Pre-verbal Intelligence
Any Questions?
In Conclusion
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Paper/Genealogy-CHAT.htm
Available for consultation:
2:30pm – 5pm
1:30pm – 4pm
2:30pm – 5pm
1:30pm – 4pm
2:30pm – 5pm
2:30pm – 5pm
12:30pm – 5pm
Tuesday 15th February
Wednesday 16th February
Friday 18th February
Monday 21st February
Tuesday 22nd February
Wednesday 23rd February
Friday 25th February
Please book a time with Carol on 082 562 1050
Program of Talks
15th
16th
Staff Lounge
Senate Room
12:30pm The Mind from Descartes to Hegel
4:30pm Marx & Modernity: Mind, Culture &
18th
21st
22nd
23rd
Staff Lounge
Senate Room
Staff Lounge
Staff Lounge
12:30pm
4:30pm
12:30pm
12:30pm
Monday 28th
Staff Lounge
12:30pm Vygotsky’s Theory of Child Development
Tuesday
W’sday
Activity
Friday
Monday
Tuesday
W’nsday
Vygotsky & Concept of Consciousness
Is Science a Humanity?
Units & Motives in Activity Theory
Projects & the Problem of Context
Andy Blunden’s Home Page
http://home.mira.net/~andy
Genealogy of CHAT:
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Paper/Genealogy-CHAT.htm
History of Philosophy on M.I.A.:
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/