Vygotsky’s psychological views — страница 2

developmental or educational psychologist. Much of what I shall have to say, however, is based on the assumption that it is incorrect to categorize him too readily as a psychologist, at least in today's restricted sense. It is precisely because he was not only a psychologist that he was able to approach this dis­cipline with a fresh eye and make it part of a more unified social science. In fact the Soviet philosopher and psychologist G. P. Shchedrovitskii has argued that one of the main reasons for Vygotsky’s success in reformulating psychology in the USSR is that he was not trained as a professional psychologist. Under normal circumstances an outsider is not given the opportunity to reformulate a discipline such as psychology in a major country. Vygotsky, however, did not

live in normal circumstances: he entered adulthood just as his country was experiencing one of the greatest social upheavals of the twentieth century—the Russian Revolution of 1917. This event provided two decades or so of what is perhaps the most exciting intellectual and cultural setting of our time. It was largely because of this setting that Vygotsky was able to develop his ingenious ideas and that these ideas could have a significant impact. A Biographical Sketch Vygotsky’s biography can be divided into two basic periods: the first, from his birth in 1896 until 1924, the year in which he made his initial appearance as a major intellectual figure in the USSR; the second, from 1924 until his death from tuberculosis in 1934. Vygotsky was born on November 17, 1896, in Orsha,

a town not far from Minsk in Belorussia. Vygotsky changed his name from Vygodsky in the early 1920s because he believed that it derived from the name Vygotovo, where his family had its origins. Other members of his family, such as his daughters retained the “d” in the spelling of their name. The picture that emerges from information about Vygotsky’s early years is one of a happy, intellectually stimulating life — in spite of the fact that, like other members of his family, he was excluded from several avenues of opportunity because he was Jewish. Instead of attending public schools, Vygotsky studied with a private tutor for several years and then finished his secondary education in a Jewish gymnasium. He profited enormously from his early years of study with his tutor,

Solomon Ashpiz. Ashpiz’s pedagogical technique was apparently grounded in a form of ingenious Socratic dialogue, which left his students, especially one as gifted as Lev Semenovich, with well-developed, inquisitive minds. By the age of fifteen Vygotsky had become known as the “little professor”, because he often led student discussions on intellectual matters. For example, he ex­amined the historical context of thought by arranging debates and mock trials in which his peers played the role of figures such as Aristotle and Napoleon. These debates were a manifestation of one of Vygotsky’s main interests during that period of his life — philosophy. While still a child in Gomel, Lev Semenovich also began to show fervent interest in the theater and in literature. Vygotsky

graduated from his gymnasium in 1913 with a gold medal. Though widely recognized as an outstanding student, he had great difficulty entering the university of his choice — largely because he was Jewish. During this period there was a quota on the number of Jews who could enter Moscow and Saint Petersburg universities: no more than 3 percent of the student bodies could be Jewish. As Levitin points out, this meant that all the Jewish gold medalists and about half the silver medalists would be admitted. Since Lev Se­menovich had every reason to expect a gold medal, his matriculation to the university of his choice seemed assured. Midway through Vygotsky's deputy examinations, however, the tsarist minister of education decreed a change in procedures by which Jews would be chosen

for Moscow and Saint Petersburg universities. The 3 percent quota was maintained, but Jewish applicants were now to be selected by casting lots, a change apparently designed to dilute the quality of Jewish students at the best universities. But then the incredible happened: late in August, the Vygodskys received a cable from their friends in Moscow telling them that Lev had been enrolled at the University by the draw. In 1914, while in Moscow as a student, Vygotsky also began at­tending the Shanyavskii People's University, an unofficial school that sprang up in 1911 after a minister of education had expelled most of the students and more than a hundred of the faculty from Moscow University in a crackdown on an antitsarist movement. Vygotsky graduated from Moscow University in