Idealism, materialism, and Vygotsky's cultural historical theory.
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2024 Gustav A Von Schulz
Vygotsky developed his Cultural Historical Theory by synthesizing pre-revolutionary Hegelian ideas about consciousness and culture with the Marxist materialist ideology required by the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution. He aimed to resolve the ideological conflict between idealism and materialism, drawing on Gestalt psychology, Hegel, Marx, and Engels to create a new psychological method. The resulting theory focused on consciousness and mind rather than biology-based stimulus-response psychology. Vygotsky's approach demonstrates how deep ideological differences can be bridged by finding unexpected commonalities between opposing views, as shown in his criticism of pure empiricism.