Experimental-Genetic Method and Psychology of Consciousness: In Search of the Lost (Part One)

Non-classical cultural-historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky is considered as a methodological alternative to traditional methods of research of consciousness. Wundt's methodological conclusion that lower and higher functions are different in their very nature and thus cannot be investigated by the same methods went unno¬ticed. The methodological alternative to the study of consciousness proposed by Vygotsky suggested that the phenomena of consciousness (i.e. of the individual's subjective world) can be explored objectively if mental functions are not regarded as fully shaped phenomena, but studied rather in the process of their emergence and development. Genetic research methodology, that is, the methodology grounded on the principle of develop¬ment, provided the foundation on which cultural-historical theory was built. This is why the experimental-genetic method of investigating higher mental functions remains, along with the theory as the system of con¬cepts and principles, an integral part of cultural-historical research methodology.

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