3 ms·
Vygotsky’s Ph.D. was in psychology, from a psychology institute, and he worked professionally as a PI in experimental developmental psychology. Indeed, one of t
by aoki 1y ago
Vygotsky’s Ph.D. was in psychology, from a psychology institute, and he worked professionally as a PI in experimental developmental psychology. Indeed, one of the themes of his work was to try to find a scientific basis for the study of cognition. But nobody is interested enough in studies of Russian children from the 1920s to track down the tech reports. People today read his essays summarizing his theories (like the ones in Mind and Society) so they can understand the connection to later work. The theories were also influenced by philosophy because his undergraduate training was in the humanities, but that doesn’t make his work “just, like, words”.
- basch 1y agoThey said the compressed derivatives of his work are words not the works.
- aoki 1y agoNo, they bucket Vygotsky into “continental philosophy teaching methods” (see first paragraph), and dismiss “continental philosophy” as meaningless word play (see last paragraph). The first point is false even if you accept the second point. The compressed textbook derivatives are obviously not an exercise in “continental philosophy,” an undergrad text for teachers is just going to give surface-level descriptions of concepts rather than any kind of actual philosophical discussion.
- wisty 1y agoI think you're being charitable here, I suspect a lot of people with PhDs in education who cited Mind and Society in their thesis haven't even read it, let alone technical reports. And if you read what I said, I wasn't having a go at Vygotsky. I was having a go at most of the people who cite him (which implies they read his work, but I often suspect they didn't). If you want to disagree with me, fine, but I'm saying that teaching is largely taught in academia in a kind of continental philosophy approach in the anglosphere, which means that Vygotsky is largely treated in academia as fodder for that.