On the system of categories of the cultural-historical psychology

The article discusses the systemic structure of the Cultural-Historical Psychology (CHP). At its “core”lies the concept of personality as “the social within us,”introduced by L.S. Vygotsky in contrast to the traditional notion of personality as a collection of individual psychological traits. By identifying a number of system-forming categories of the CHP, the authors examine their interrelations and their role in the formation and development of this theoretical framework. It is demonstrated that, by arriving at understanding of personality as a “psychological system,”Vygotsky laid the foundation for a “systemic perspective”on the processes of development and disintegration of higher psychological functions. His theory belongs to the Copernican type of scientific systems, as it incorporates the “movement of the observer” — the cultural-historical development of human personality.

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