F.T. Mikhailov: Appeal as a Cultural and Psychological Phenomenon ¹⁸¹

The paper analyzes the concept of ‘appeal’, the introduction of which is related to one of the fundamental contributions of F.T. Mikhailov into philosophy and theoretical psychology. The historical and biographical contexts of F.T. Mikhailov is revealed, behind which stands the classical dialectical tradition of understanding man and his creation — culture. Long-term work in psychology and contacts with psychologists made it possible to implement this tradition in a new way in the course of comprehending the foundations of psychological knowledge within the framework of cultural-historical and activity approaches. From the point of view of F.T. Mikhailov, culture appears as a sphere of embodied appeals of people (human communities) to each other. The logic of these appeals is seen both as the process of creating culture in history and as its assimilation in the course of individual development. Individual appeal, aimed at ‘universal’ response, is at the heart of any human action. It is in the targeted streams of mutual appeals, ‘call-responses’ (not only verbal) expressing the people’s vital need of each other, that a human community is born within which people become the “natural organs of life”.

Keywords: appeal, culture, F.T. Mikhailov

Column: Felix Mikhailov: from Philosophy to Theoretical Psychology (in Celebration of His 90th Birthday)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2021170102