Abstract

CARVALHO, Maria Aparecida Alves Sobreira; ARAUJO, Sicilia Maria Moreira de; XIMENES, Veronica Morais  and  PASCUAL, Jesus Garcia. Vygotsky's concept formation of consciousness and its contribution to psychology. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2010, vol.62, n.3, pp. 13-22. ISSN 1809-5267.

This paper presents the theoretical and methodological changes introduced by Vygotsky in the conception of psychological processes, starting from its concept of conscience. On criticizing the idealists and reflexologic approaches of his time, Vygotsky points a crisis that remained unseen in Psychology. We rescue in this theoretical article the concept of consciousness in Vygotsky, wich articulates a new method for Psychology where the psyche is seen as a historical-cultural construction rooted on materialistic consciousness, opposing to the concept of universal, ahistorical, metaphysical, and spiritual consciousness. Vygotsky points that the Soviet Psychology presented contradictions caused by the misreading of historical materialism and the attempt of universalization of certain psychological approaches. We argue in this paper that Vygotsky,on approaching the issue of consciousness, at the Second Congress of Psychoneurology (1924), caused a theoretical and epistemological change in Soviet Psychology.

Keywords : historical-cultural psychology; consciousness; subjectivity.

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