Activity: The Theory, Methodology, and Problems

Paul M. Deutsch Press, Inc. is pleased to announce the publication in English of this important new volume, containing contributions from 32 leading Soviet specialists. It challenges the assumptions prevalent in a number of books currently being published on the subject of activity theory and offers a fresh and rigorous debate. This book is devoted to the discussion of the actual meaning of the problem of activity and the activity based approach, and their real potential and limitations. Because we seem to be experiencing a kind of activity boom, V.P. Lektorsky states in his "Invitation to Discussion" in the book: "A large number of books and articles dealing with problems of dialectical and historical materialism, methodology of scientific knowledge, sociology, the theory of culture, psychology, etc. are being published. These publications stress the importance of the principle of activity, the necessity of an activity based approach and sometimes even proclaim the existence of a 'universal theory of activity'. However, a closer look at these publications is disappointing. The fact is that discussions about activity do not always open up new horizons in our understanding and are at times reduced to simply activity-related terminology to already well-known ideas." This new book seeks to reverse this trend, and to take discussion of activity theory to new heights. It is structured in the dialectical style: every participant in the discussion is given three opportunities to contribute - first, to explain his own position on the issues under discussion, then to criticize the viewpoints of others, and finally, to respond to criticism of his own position. Note to the American Reader ................... ix V.P. Lektorsky An Invitation to Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi \~P. Lektorsky SECTION ONE: Activity as a Problem Chapter 1 The Concept of Activity as a Philosophical Category: Problems Involved . . . . . . . . . . 1 V.S. Shvyrev Chapter 2 The Category of Activity: Inexhaustible Possibilities and Limits of Applicability . . 7 G.S. Batishchev Chapter 3 Ability and Rationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 I.T. Kasavin Chapter 4 Activity, Behavior and Creativity . . . . . . 23 AL. Nikiforov Chapter 5 The Categoric Context of the Activity Approach ....................... 33 V.N. Sagatovsky Chapter 6 The Place of the Category of Activity in the Theoretical System of Historical Materialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Y.K. Pletnikov Chapter 7 Activity and Social Relationships . . . . . . 49 V.Z. Kelle Chapter 8 Activity - Labor - Culture .......... 57 N.S. Zlobin Chapter 9 The Activity of the Subject and Psychic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A.V. Brushlinsky Chapter 10 On The Place of the Category of Activity in Modern Theoretical Psychology ...................... 75 V.V. Davydov PART TWO Discussion and Criticism Chapter 11 Activity as an Open System . . . . . . . . . . 83 V.S. Shvyrev Chapter 12 The Activity Approach in the Captivity of Substantialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 G.S. Batyshchev Chapter 13 Defining Activity in the Context of a Research Tusk .................... 93 I.T. Kasavin Chapter 14 The Common and the Individual in Activity ......................... 99 A.L. Nikiforov Chapter 15 Activity: Monism at Any Price or Polyphony? ..................... 103 V.I. Sagatovsky Chapter 16 Discussion Continued ............. 109 V.Z. Kelle Chapter 17 Thrminological Discordance andbr Conceptual Differences ............. 115 N.S. Zlobin Chapter 18 The Importance of Man's Interaction with the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 A.V. Brushlinsky Chapter 19 Problems of Activity as a Mode of Human Existence and the Principle of Monism ............... 127 V.V. Davydov SECTION THREE Replies to Criticism Chapter 20 A Serious Conceptual Problem and not Scholastic Theorizing . . . . . . . . . . 133 V.S. Shvyrev Chapter 21 Some Remarks on Critical Remarks ... 139 V.Z. Kelle Chapter 22 Tu Argue is to Seek the 1hlth ........ 143 Y.K. Pletnikov Chapter 23 Yes, We Need a Monistic Theory of Human Existence ................ 149 V.V. Davydov Chapter 24 Reply to Objections and Misunderstandings ............... 157 A. V. Brushlinsky Chapter 25 Rational Limits and Prospects of Human Activity .................. 163 l.T. Kasavin Chapter 26 Not by Deed Alone ................ 169 G.S. Batyshchev Chapter 27 Activity and Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 A.L. Nikiforov Chapter 28 Returning to the Problem of Method ..... 185 V.N. Sagatovsky Chapter 29 By Way of Conclusion ............. 189 V.A. Lektorsky Index .................................... 194 The essence of the so-called activity approach to the world of man (regardless of the way this approach is interpreted) consists of course not in emphasizing the trivial idea that man is active in this world, but rather in analysing the specifically human ways of transforming actual conditions.