rdumain -clip- Wasn't there some association between the Hegelian Deborites and non-Pavlovian, anti-reductionist Soviet psychologists in the 1920s?
^^^^^^ CB: Jim says something on this: "It is also interest that the issues underlying the debate between the mechanists and the Dialecticians appeared in other disciplines as well such as in Soviet psychology. The reflexology of Ivan Pavlov can be seen as representing a mechanist approach to psychology in which behavior was broken down into reflexes - both unconditioned and conditioned. In contrast the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky attempted to construct a psychology directly from the premisses of dialectical materialism. He developed Genetic approach to the development of concepts in early childhood and youth, tracing the transition through a series of stages of human development, based on the development of the child's social practice. His work eventually impacted Western psychology especially through his influence on the thought of Jean Piaget. However, under Stalin Vygotsky's work was considered to be heretical while Pavlov's work became the basis for official Soviet psychology. Indeed, in the later years of Stalin's regime, it was made the official Soviet psychology and most other schools were suppressed. Thus, while mechanism was rejected as a general philosophical outlook, it was embraced in psychology." _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
