The outstanding scientist Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose main works are included in the golden fund of world psychology, managed a lot in his short life. He laid the foundation for many subsequent trends in pedagogy and psychology, some of his ideas are still waiting to be developed. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky belonged to a galaxy of outstanding Russian scientists who combined erudition, brilliant rhetorical abilities and deep scientific knowledge.
Family and childhood
Lev Vygotsky, whose biography began in a prosperous Jewish family in the city of Orsha, was born on November 17, 1896. His surname at birth was Vygodsky, he changed the letter in 1923. The father's name was Simkh, but in the Russian manner he was called Semyon. Leo's parents were educated and we althy people. Mom worked as a teacher, father was a merchant. In the family, Leo was the second of eight children.
In 1897 Vygodskymove to Gomel, where his father becomes a deputy bank manager. Leo's childhood was quite prosperous, his mother devoted all her time to children. The children of brother Vygodsky Sr. also grew up in the house, in particular brother David, who had a strong influence on Leo. The Vygodsky House was a kind of cultural center where the local intelligentsia gathered, cultural news and world events were discussed. The father was the founder of the first public library in the city, children got used to reading good books from childhood. Subsequently, several prominent philologists left the family, and in order to differ from his cousin, a representative of Russian formalism, Leo will change the letter in his surname.
Study
A private teacher Solomon Markovich Ashpiz, known for his unusual pedagogical method based on Socrates' Dialogues, was invited to the Vygodsky family for children. In addition, he adhered to progressive political views and was a member of the Social Democratic Party.
The lion was formed under the influence of the teacher, as well as brother David. From childhood he was fond of literature and philosophy. His favorite philosopher was Benedict Spinoza, and the scientist carried this hobby through his whole life. Lev Vygotsky studied at home, but later successfully passed the exam for the fifth grade of the gymnasium externally and went to the 6th grade of the Jewish male gymnasium, where he received his secondary education. Lev studied well, but continued to receive private lessons in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English at home.
In 1913 he successfullypasses the entrance exams to the Moscow University at the Faculty of Medicine. But pretty soon it is translated into legal. In 1916, he wrote many reviews of books by contemporary writers, articles on culture and history, and reflections on the "Jewish" question. In 1917, he decides to leave law and is transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology of the University. Shanyavsky, who graduates in a year.
Pedagogy
After graduating from university, Lev Vygotsky faced the problem of finding a job. He, with his mother and younger brother, first went to Samara in search of a place, then went to Kyiv, but in 1918 he returned to Gomel. Here he is connected to the construction of a new school, where he begins to teach with his older brother David. From 1919 to 1923 he worked in several educational institutions of Gomel, and also headed the department of public education. This teaching experience became the basis for his first scientific research in the field of methods of influencing the younger generation.
He organically enters the progressive for that time pedological direction, which combined psychology and pedagogy. Vygotsky creates an experimental laboratory at the Gomel technical school, in which his pedagogical psychology is formed. Vygotsky Lev Semenovich actively speaks at conferences and becomes a prominent scientist in a new field. Already after the death of the scientist, the works devoted to the problems of developing skills and teaching children will be combined in a book called"Pedagogical psychology". It will contain articles about attention, aesthetic education, forms of studying the personality of the child and the psychology of the teacher.
First steps in science
While still studying at the university, Lev Vygotsky is fond of literary criticism, publishes several works on poetics. His work on the analysis of "Hamlet" by W. Shakespeare was a new word in literary analysis. However, Vygotsky began to engage in systematic scientific activity in another area - at the junction of pedagogy and psychology. His experimental laboratory conducted work that became a new word in pedology. Even then, Lev Semenovich was occupied with mental processes and questions of the influence of psychology on the teacher's activity. His works, presented at several scientific conferences, were bright and original, which allowed Vygotsky to become a psychologist.
The Path in Psychology
The first works of Vygotsky are connected with the problems of teaching abnormal children, these studies not only marked the beginning of the formation of defectology, but also became a serious contribution to the study of higher mental functions and mental patterns. In 1923, at a congress on psychoneurology, a fateful meeting took place with the outstanding psychologist A. R. Luria. He was literally subdued by Vygotsky's report and became the initiator of Lev Semenovich's move to Moscow. In 1924, Vygotsky received an invitation to work at the Moscow Institute of Psychology. Thus began the brightest, but short period of his life.
The interests of the scientist were very diverse. Hede alt with the problems of reflexology relevant at that time, made a significant contribution to the study of higher mental functions, and also did not forget about his first affection - about pedagogy. After the death of the scientist, a book will appear that unites his many years of research - "Psychology of Human Development". Vygotsky Lev Semenovich was a methodologist of psychology, and this book contains his fundamental reflections on the methods of psychology and diagnostics. Particularly important is the part devoted to the psychological crisis, of extreme interest are the 6 lectures of the scientist, in which he dwells on the main issues of general psychology. Vygotsky did not have time to deeply reveal his ideas, but became the founder of a number of areas in science.
Cultural-historical theory
A special place in Vygotsky's psychological concept is occupied by the cultural-historical theory of the development of the psyche. In 1928, he makes a bold statement for those times that the social environment is the main source of personality development. Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose works on pedology were distinguished by a special approach, rightly believed that the child goes through the stages of the formation of the psyche not only as a result of the implementation of biological programs, but also in the process of mastering "psychological tools": culture, language, counting system. Consciousness develops in cooperation and communication, so the role of culture in the formation of personality cannot be overestimated. Man, according to the psychologist, is an absolutely social being, and outside of society, many mental functions are notmay form.
Psychology of Art
Another important, milestone book for which Vygotsky Lev became famous is The Psychology of Art. It was published many years after the death of the author, but even then it made a huge impression on the scientific world. Its influence was experienced by researchers from various fields: psychology, linguistics, ethnology, art history, sociology. Vygotsky's main idea was that art is an important area for the development of many mental functions, and its emergence is due to the natural course of human evolution. Art is the most important factor in the survival of the human population, it performs many important functions in society and the lives of individuals.
Thinking and Speech
Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose books are still extremely popular all over the world, did not have time to publish his main work. The book "Thinking and Speech" was a real revolution in the psychology of its time. In it, the scientist was able to express many ideas that were formulated and developed much later in cognitive science, psycholinguistics, and social psychology. Vygotsky experimentally proved that human thinking is formed and developed exclusively in speech activity. At the same time, language and speech are also means of stimulating mental activity. He discovered the phasic nature of the formation of thinking and introduced the concept of "crisis", which is now used everywhere.
The contribution of a scientist to science
Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose books today are mandatory reading for every psychologist, in his very short scientific life was able to make a significant contribution to the development of several sciences. His work became, among other studies, the impetus for the formation of psychoneurology, psycholinguistics, and cognitive psychology. His cultural and historical concept of the development of the psyche underlies an entire scientific school in psychology, which most actively begins to develop in the 21st century.
It is impossible to underestimate Vygotsky's contribution to the development of domestic defectology, developmental and educational psychology. Many of his works are only today receiving their true assessment and development; in the history of Russian psychology, such a name as Lev Vygotsky now occupies an honorable place. The scientist's books are constantly reprinted today, his drafts and sketches are published, the analysis of which shows how powerful and original his ideas and plans were.
Vygotsky's students are the pride of Russian psychology, fruitfully developing his and their own ideas. In 2002, the scientist's book "Psychology" was published, which combined his fundamental research in basic sections of science, such as general, social, clinical, developmental psychology, and developmental psychology. Today this textbook is basic for all universities in the country.
Private life
Like any scientist, Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, for whom psychology has become a matter of life, most of hisgave time to work. But in Gomel he had a like-minded person, a bride, and later a wife - Roza Noevna Smekhova. The couple lived a short life together - only 10 years, but it was a happy marriage. The couple had two daughters: Gita and Asya. Both became scientists, Gita Lvovna is a psychologist and defectologist, Asya Lvovna is a biologist. The psychological dynasty was continued by the scientist's granddaughter, Elena Evgenievna Kravtsova, who now heads the Institute of Psychology named after her grandfather.
End of the road
Even in the early 1920s, Lev Vygotsky fell ill with tuberculosis. He caused his death in 1934. The scientist continued to work until the end of his days and on the last day of his life he said: "I am ready." The last years of the psychologist's life were complicated by the gathering clouds around his work. Repressions and persecutions were approaching, so death allowed him to avoid arrest, and saved his relatives from reprisal.
