The Development of Scienti?c Concepts: Critique  

Oleh:

Miller, Ronald B.

Jenis: Article from Books - E-Book
Dalam koleksi: Vygotsky in Perspective, page 136-176.
Topik: Scienti?c Concepts; Spontaneous Concepts; Conscious Awareness; Egocentrism; Vygotsky’s Critique of Piaget; Imitation; Development and Instruction
Fulltext: The Development of Scienti?c Concepts Critique.pdf (296.68KB)

Isi artikel

In order to evaluate and re?ect on Vygotsky’s discussion about the development of scienti?c concepts (1987), especially in relation to his interpretation of Piaget’s theory, it is necessary to clarify and untangle some of the key terms he introduces, in particular, the terms ‘scienti?c’, ‘everyday’ and ‘spontaneous’ concepts. Vygotsky’s choice of the term ‘scienti?c’ to designate a particular kind of concept is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most fundamental problem is that in using this term he does notmeanwhatiscommonlyreferredtoasscience in the sense of the natural sciences. For example, one of the main concepts he uses as an illustration of a scienti?c concept is the Marxist social scienti?c concept of ‘exploitation’. In distinguishing scienti?c concepts from other kinds of concepts, it is not the content of the concept that is targeted but its method of acquisition and its relationship to other cognate concepts. In Vygotsky’s terminology, scienti?c concepts have two distinguishing features. The ?rst is that they are not the product of the ‘operations of the child’s own thought’ (p. 173) but arise in the process of formal instruction such as occurs in the school classroom. 1 The second is that they are always embedded in systems and derive their meaning from the relationships that obtain between the various concepts that constitute their meanings. Although Vygotsky does not elaborate, it appears that these two features are both necessary. Learning from others does not necessarily entail that the information is acquired as part of a conceptual system. Single bits of information may be acquired from others, such as a person’s name, address and telephone number, but this information does not thereby necessarily constitute a system of scienti?c concepts.

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