Not by bread alone: Lev Vygotsky's Jewish writings

Cultural Historical Psychology and the Reset of History

The authors argue that, in the research trajectory of cultural historical psychology, there are nuclear aspects of Vygotsky’s theory that have been insufficiently considered. Three of these aspects are herein discussed: the intense and rapid changes to mediational processes and their influence on human psyche; meaningful findings on neuroplasticity that require a neuropsychological approach; and, perhaps most importantly, the need for cultural historical approach, and for psychology at large, to return to the study of the direction and meaning of human life.

L.S. Vygotsky’s Critique: Between Aesthetics, Publitsistika and Psychology

This paper discusses L.S. Vygotsky’s early activity as a critic through an analysis of texts in which the author himself reflects on the task of the critic. Fragments from the essay on Hamlet, Psychology of art and theatrical reviews of the Gomel period (1922—23) are analyzed to provide an overview of how his understanding of the role of the critic has evolved and changed in time. By moving from the reader’s critique to the objective analytic method, Vygotsky has placed the critic in a position of social and educational engagement, a public figure committed to raise the level of the arts and the audience’s capacity optimize the aesthetic experience. His stance to the critical work is also analyzed within the context of Russian critical traditions, particularly some ideas of Boris Eikhenbaum and the Formal School of literary studies. Finally, the critical activity is seen alongside an extensive list of attributes that has been linked to Vygotsky (scientist, methodologist, philosopher etc.) as an equally important and complementary facet of a person fully committed to social transformation.