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Beyond the Brain

An Agentive Activity Perspective on Mind, Development, and Learning

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Igor M. Arievitch

    1. College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, USA

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  • The book outlines a novel approach to the human mind by giving a fresh scrutiny and substantially revising many of Vygotsky’s and activity theory core concepts at the intersection of psychology and education.
  • The book offers a radical alternative to a recent wave of biological reductionism and aggressive brainism by critically engaging a vast body of research to support the argument why the mind is actually beyond the brain.
  • The book charts a bold vision for education with the core concept of developmental teaching and learning built on the premise that real knowledge is not “information storage and retrieval” and that education is not about “knowledge transmission” but that instead it is about developing students’ minds.

Part of the book series: Bold Visions in Educational Research (BVER)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Introduction

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 1-6

  3. The Mind is Not in the Brain

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 7-24

  4. The Mind is the form of the Individual’s Activity

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 25-54

  5. The Developmental Trajectory of Cultural Mediation (I)

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 55-75

  6. The Developmental Trajectory of Cultural Mediation (II)

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 77-114

  7. The Quality of Cognitive Tools and Development of the Mind

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 115-145

  8. Conclusion

    • Igor M. Arievitch
    Pages 147-152

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 153-169
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Keywords

About this book

The book outlines a fundamental alternative to the rising wave of aggressive biological reductionism and brainism in contemporary psychology and education. It offers steps to achieving a daunting and elusive goal: constructing a coherently non-reductionist account of the mind. The main obstacle to such a construction is identified as the centuries-old contemplative fallacy that leads to entrenched dualisms and shackles major theoretical frameworks. The alternative agentive activity perspective overcomes this fallacy by advancing the core principles of the cultural-historical activity theory. This innovative perspective charts a consistently non-mentalist and non-individualist view of psychological processes without discarding the individual mind. A vast body of research and theories, from Piaget and Dewey to sociocultural and embodied cognition approaches are critically engaged, with a special focus on Piotr Galperin’s contribution. The notion of the embodied agent’s object-directed activity serves as a pivotal point for re-conceptualizing the mind and its role in behavior. In a radical departure from both the traditional mentalist and biologically reductionist frameworks, psychological processes are understood as taking place “beyond the brain” – as constituted by the agent’s activities in the world. From this standpoint, many of Vygotsky’s key insights, including semiotic mediation, internalization, and cognitive tools are given a fresh scrutiny and substantially revised. The agentive activity perspective opens ways to offer a bold vision for education: developmental teaching and learning built on the premise that real knowledge is not “information storage and retrieval” and that education is not about “knowledge transmission” but instead it is about developing students’ minds.

Authors and Affiliations

  • College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, USA

    Igor M. Arievitch

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Beyond the Brain

  • Book Subtitle: An Agentive Activity Perspective on Mind, Development, and Learning

  • Authors: Igor M. Arievitch

  • Series Title: Bold Visions in Educational Research

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6351-104-9

  • Publisher: SensePublishers Rotterdam

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: SensePublishers-Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2017

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-6351-104-9Published: 24 August 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: CLXX, 8

  • Topics: Education, general

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