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The Collected Works of Lev Semonovich Vygotsky comprise a series of six volumes, originally published in Moscow by Pedagogika between 1982 and 1984 and comprising the work done by Vygotsky between 1924 and his early death in 1934. The present vol ume is the first of this series to appear in English but it is actually Volume 2 in the Russian series. It contains a complete rendition of Thinking and Speech (which may be known to English readers as Thought and Language, the title assigned to an abridged, interpretative translation by Hanfmann and Vakar in 1962) and five Lectures in Psy chology which are here published for the first time in English and essentialIy comprise Vygotsky's systematization of psychological theory and data in respect to the develop ment in childhood of perception, memory, thinking, emotions, imagination, and will. The volumes which are yet to appear in English are respectively concerned with: (1) theory and history of psychology; (2) problems of developmental psychology; (3) child and adolescent psychology; (4) "defectology" (or "special education" in American par lance); and (5) a "scientific archive" consisting of a critique of Spinoza's studies of the passions and an important essay, "Tool and Sign. " The decision by the Translator and Editors to render the title of the first segment of this volume, Mysclzlenie i Rech', as Thinking and Speech and not as Thought and Language, as it was previously translated, was a very intentional one.
List of contents
Prologue to the English Edition.- The Development of Vygotsky's Thought: An Introduction.- Thinking and Speech.- Preface.- 1. The Problem and the Method of Investigation.- 2. The Problem of Speech and Thinking in Piaget's Theory.- 3. Stern's Theory of Speech Development.- 4. The Genetic Roots of Thinking and Speech.- 5. An Experimental Study of Concept Development.- 6. The Development of Scientific Concepts in Childhood.- 7. Thought and Word.- Lectures on Psychology.- Lecture 1. Peception and Its Development in Childhood.- Lecture 2. Memory and Its Development in Childhood.- Lecture 3. Thinking and Its Development in Childhood.- Lecture 4. Emotions and Their Development in Childhood.- Lecture 5. Imagination and Its Development in Childhood.- Lecture 6. The Problem of Will and Its Development in Childhood.- Afterword to the Russian Edition.- Notes to the Russian Edition.- Thinking and Speech.- Lectures on Psychology.- Notes to the English Edition.- Author Index.
Summary
Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist and one of the most influential psychologists in the world during the 20th century. This volume, the first of six, examines Vygotsky's works involving problems of general psychology, including thinking and speech.
