Vygotskian implications:

On the meaning and its brain

A keynote paper

by Prof. Dr. Laszlo Garai

Institute for Psychology,

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Presented at the International Conference dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of Lev Vygotsky (The Cultural-Historical Approach: Progress in Human Sciences and education; Moscow, 21-24 October, 1996)

1. Vygotskian implications:

2. On the meaning and its brain

by Prof. Laszlo Garai, DSc^*

Abstract: About a basic dilemma of Vygotsky's theory: How superior mental phenomena may be treated as functionning of both brain structures and meaning structures at the same time while latters are of an inter-individual character as opposed to the intra-individual character of the formers. Arguments are derived from various sources (Vygotsky school's theory of functional organs, Gibson's ecological theory of perception, ethology's empirical data about territorial behaviour of populations and Szentágothai's model of organizing neuronal modules) for transcending mainstream considerations based exclusively on individual organism both by going beyond the individual (toward a supra-individual structure) and beyond the organism (toward an extra-organismic one). The paper presents for the K. Popper's “World 3’ a possible monistic interpretation that derives not merely meanings but their logical structures as well from the functioning of supra-individual economic structures instead of that of the individual's brain structures. A keynote paper I had originally presented at the International Conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lev Vygotsky ("The Cultural-Historical Approach: Progress in Human Sciences and education"; Moscow, 21–24 October, 1996) and subseqently adapted for a publication.

key words: Vygotsky; brain; meaning; functional organs; brain models: Szentagothai vs Eccles; transcending individual organism; K. Popper's “World 3’

Once Vygotsky said that “psychoanalysis has no conscious theoretical system, but, the same manner as that character of Molière, without suspecting the thing in all his life spoke in prose, Freud the scientist did produce a system: by introducing a new term, making it consistent with his other terms, describing a new fact, reaching a new conclusion – he went on building at the same time, inch by inch his system”ⁱ.

The same has to be said on Vygotsky himself with this difference that he has not, like Freud, 83 but 38 years for adjusting the elements of his theory into a system. This fact, together with that other that since his death the psychological science had almost twice as many years for “describing new facts, reaching new conclusions”, must motivate us for examining against the background of these facts and conclusions how different constituents of his theory and implications of such constituents may be brought into harmony.

Vygotsky in his writings of 1930s time and again argues, in particular, for the most important role of meaning (znachenie), sense field (smyslovoie polie) in transformation of the perception and the activity into a specifically human dealing with objects and, consequently, in producing superior performances as compared with inferior ones.ⁱⁱ

Another thesis of Vygotsky postulates that the localization of superior functions in brain structures must be as important a scientific question as that of inferior functions. Therefore he considers worth praising brain researchers for introducing meaning-like concepts into the brain research.ⁱⁱⁱ

Now, on one hand, the brain is an intraindividual extrapsychic mechanism that may well be linked with the intraindividual psychic phenomena the general psychology normally studies, but, on the other hand, meaning must be considered an interindividual phenomenon.

Vygotsky was completely aware of this interindividual character of meaning that he linked to the speach and interpreted as being at the same time obobshchenie and obshchenie^iv. However, the question is, how this interindividual psychic phenomenon can be linked to that intraindividual extrapsychic mechanism.