Time in L.S. Vygotsky’s Creation

Abstract

Background. Currently, different versions of Russian and international concepts are being developed in a single scientific field. In this context, the high heuristic potential of L.S. Vygotsky’s concept is revealed as his ideas are in tune with the challenges of information culture. Objectives. The goal of the current work is to present the integrity of L.S. Vygotsky’s concept of culture and the variability of his ideas about emotional experience, sign and tools, the social situation of development, crises at different periods and in different situations in the development of science. The connection between continuity and change over time makes Vygotsky's concept flexible and productive for a digital society. Methods. The historical-genetic approach, historical hermeneutics and categorical analysis are used to trace the internal logic and stages of the formation of L.S. Vygotsky’s scientific views, as well as to outline his opponents and the origins of his methodology and discoveries. Results. Personal and sociocultural (temporary) factors in the emergence and development of the concept of L.S. Vygotsky were analysed. The role of the initial works on the psychology of culture and theatre in the formation of psychological concepts of emotional experience and personality was shown. A holistic picture of the dynamics of the scientist’s views on the development of psyche, the role of the tool-sign, the social situation of development and crises, as factors that determine the boundaries of possible personality changes, the connection between affect and intelligence throughout ontogenesis was presented. The transformation of the concept of interiorisation, which becomes one of the central ones for the development of the psyche in a digital society, was revealed. Conclusions. Variability over time and, simultaneously, the fundamental integrity of L.S. Vygotsky’s approach to culture in its various forms (word, sign, emotional experience, theatre, society) are the basis for the high productivity and creative potential of his ideas, which make it possible to transform them in different social situations of the development of science. The personality of the creator in the context of his life and the life of his ideas gives possibility to interpret it in terms of the psychology of drama, expanding the boundaries of analysis and incorporation of the scientific worldview and concepts of L.S. Vygotsky in modern psychology.

Keywords

• cultural psychology
• emotional experience
• interiorization
• tool-sign
• social situation of development
• affect
• intelligence
• concept of crisis