Activity of Understanding Life Experiences: Status, Process and Result ¹⁴⁵¹

The paper defines from the cultural-historical perspective the status of activity of understanding life expe¬riences as that of a separate activity that continues throughout an individual's life. The paper describes the fol¬lowing: 1) the motive — that is, achieving a coherent consistency of the lifeworld; 2) the actions aimed at con¬ceiving and integrating different parts of one's life experiences into a holistic picture of his/her own life; 3) var¬ious operations of the activity of understanding life experiences: forms (independent or together with others), levels (spontaneous or conscious) and spheres of understanding life experiences. The paper also discusses the outcome of this activity: the development of an individual lifeworld. The individual lifeworld is a complex per¬ceptive-practical and sign-symbolic reality in which the individual's life happens and, at the same time, an inte¬gral sign-symbolic means of arranging, organizing, directing and regulating life activities.

Keywords: activity of understanding life experiences; motive, aims and operations; forms, levels and spheres of activity of understanding; individual lifeworld; role of cultural concepts and practices

Column: Theory and Methodology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2015110102