From sign to meaning and sense

René van der Veer

pp. 251-270

in: Ekaterina Zavershneva, René van der Veer (eds), Vygotsky's notebooks, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

This chapter contains documents connected with the transition from the older view to the systemic semantic analysis of consciousness in which meaning became one of the key concepts. The notes shed light on the events reflected in the previous chapter and also return to Luria’s findings from the expeditions to Uzbekistan. It becomes clear from the notes that Vygotsky’s colleagues, in particular Leont’ev, did not always agree with the new research direction that Vygotsky advocated. In his efforts to argue the new view, Vygotsky criticized both his colleagues (Leont’ev, Luria, and Levina) and himself. Interestingly, several parts of the text are virtually identical to passages in the seventh chapter of Thinking and speech and to parts of the talk “The problem of consciousness,” which was delivered on December 5, 1932 (see also chapter  17). This shows that chapter 7 of Thinking andspeech, although dictated in the spring of 1934, relied at least partially on ideas that had already...