Lev Vygotsky: biography, photo and creativity

The outstanding scientist Vygotsky, Lev Semenovich, whose main works are included in the golden fund of world psychology, managed to accomplish much in his short life. He laid the foundation for many subsequent directions in pedagogy and psychology, some of his ideas still await their development. The psychologist Lev Vygotsky belonged to a galaxy of outstanding Russian scholars who combined erudition, brilliant rhetorical abilities and deep scientific knowledge.

Family and childhood

Lev Vygotsky, whose biography began in a prosperous Jewish family in the city of Orsha, was born on November 17, 1896. His surname at birth was Vygodsky, he changed the letter in 1923. My father's name was Simh, but in Russian I was called Semyon. Leo's parents were educated and wealthy people. My mother worked as a teacher, my father was a merchant. In the family, Leo was the second of eight children.

In 1897 the Vygodskys moved to Gomel, where the father became the deputy bank manager. Childhood of the Lion was quite prosperous, my mother devoted all her time to children. The children also grew up the children of Vygodsky's elder brother, in particular Brother David, who had a strong influence on Leo. The house of Vygodskikh was a kind of cultural center where the local intelligentsia gathered, the news of culture and events in the world were discussed. Father was the founder of the first public library in the city, children from childhood got used to reading good books. Subsequently, several outstanding philologists left the family, and to differ from their cousin, the representative of Russian formalism, Leo and change the letter in the surname.

Study

For the children in the Vygodskikh family, a private teacher Solomon Markovich Ashpiz was invited, known for his unusual pedagogical method based on Socrates' Dialogues. In addition, he adhered to progressive political views and was a member of the Social Democratic Party.

The lion was formed under the influence of the teacher, and also the brother of David. He was fond of literature and philosophy since childhood. His favorite philosopher was Benedikt Spinoza, and this enthusiasm the scientist carried through his whole life. Leo Vygotsky studied at home, but later successfully passed the exam for the fifth grade of the gymnasium and went to the 6th grade of the Jewish gymnasium for boys, where he received a secondary education. Lev studied well, but continued to receive private lessons in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English at home.

In 1913 he successfully withstands entrance examinations to the Moscow University for the Medical Faculty. But pretty soon it's translated into a legal one. In 1916 he wrote many reviews on the books of contemporary writers, articles on culture and history, and reflections on the "Jewish" question. In 1917, he decided to leave the jurisprudence and transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology of the University. Shanyavsky, who ends in a year.

Pedagogy

After graduating from university, Lev Vygotsky faced the problem of employment. He goes with his mother and younger brother first to Samara in search of a place, then goes to Kiev, but in 1918 he returns to Gomel. Here he is connected to the construction of a new school, in which he begins teaching with his older brother David. From 1919 to 1923 he worked in several educational institutions of Gomel, also heads the department of public education. This pedagogical experience became the basis for his first scientific research in the field of methods of influencing the younger generation.

He organically enters the progressive pedological direction for that time, which combined psychology and pedagogy. Vygotsky creates an experimental laboratory in the Gomel technical school, in which his pedagogical psychology is formed. Vygotsky Leo Semenovich actively speaks at conferences and becomes a prominent scientist in the new field. After the death of the scientist, the works devoted to the problems of forming skills and teaching children will be combined in a book called "Pedagogical Psychology". It will collect articles on attention, aesthetic education, forms of studying the personality of the child and the psychology of the teacher.

The first steps in science

While still studying at the university, Lev Vygotsky is fond of literary criticism, he publishes several works on poetics. His work on the analysis of Hamlet by W. Shakespeare was a new word in literary analysis. However, Vygotsky begins to engage in systematic scientific activity in a different field - at the intersection of pedagogy and psychology. His experimental laboratory led the work, which became a new word in pedology. Even then, Lev Semenovich was occupied by mental processes and questions of the influence of psychology on the activity of the teacher. His works, presented at several scientific conferences, were vivid and distinctive, which enabled Vygotsky to become a psychologist.

Path in psychology

Vygotsky's first works are connected with the problems of teaching abnormal children, these studies not only laid the foundation for the development of defectology, but also became a serious contribution to the study of higher mental functions and mental patterns. In 1923, at a congress on psychoneurology, a fateful meeting took place with the outstanding psychologist AR Luria. He was literally subdued by Vygotsky's report and initiated the move of Lev Semenovich to Moscow. In 1924, Vygotsky was invited to work at the Moscow Institute of Psychology. Thus began the brightest, but shortest period of his life.

The interests of the scientist were very diverse. He dealt with the problems of current at that time reflexology, made a significant contribution to the study of higher mental functions, and also did not forget about his first attachment - about pedagogy. Even after the death of the scientist, a book will appear that unites his many years of research, "The Psychology of Human Development." Vygotsky Lev Semenovich was a methodology of psychology, and in this book his fundamental reflections on the methods of psychology and diagnostics are collected. Particularly important is the part devoted to the psychological crisis, of extraordinary interest are six lectures of the scientist, in which he dwells on the main issues of general psychology. Vygotsky did not manage to reveal his ideas in depth, but he became the founder of a number of directions in science.

Cultural-historical theory

A special place in Vygotsky's psychological conception is occupied by the cultural and historical theory of the development of the psyche. He in 1928 makes a bold statement at the time that the social environment is the main source of personal development. Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose pedology books differed in a special approach, rightly believed that the child goes through the stages of the development of the psyche, not only as a result of the realization of biological programs, but also in the process of mastering the "psychological tools": culture, language, and the counting system. Consciousness develops in cooperation and communication, therefore the role of culture in the formation of personality can not be overestimated. Man, according to the psychologist, the creature is absolutely social, and outside of society, many mental functions can not be formed.

"Psychology of Art"

Another important, landmark book, which became famous Vygotsky Leo, - "Psychology of Art." In the light she came out many years after the death of the author, but even then made a huge impression on the learned world. Its influence was experienced by researchers from different fields: psychology, linguistics, ethnology, art history, sociology. Vygotsky's main idea was that art is an important sphere of development for many mental functions, and its emergence is due to the natural course of human evolution. Art is the most important factor in the survival of the human population, it performs many important functions in the society and life of individual individuals.

"Thinking and Speaking"

Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose books are still extremely popular all over the world, did not manage to publish his main work. The book "Thinking and Speaking" was a real revolution in the psychology of its time. In it, the scientist was able to express many ideas that were later formulated and developed in cognitive science, psycholinguistics, social psychology. Vygotsky experimentally proved that man's thinking is formed and develops exclusively in speech activity. In this case, language and speech are also means of stimulating mental activity. He discovered the stage character of the formation of thinking and introduced the notion of "crisis", which is now universally applied.

The scientist's contribution to science

Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose books are now compulsory for reading to every psychologist, for his very short scientific life could make a considerable contribution to the development of several sciences. His work has become, among other studies, an impetus to the formation of psychoneurology, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology. His cultural and historical concept of the development of the psyche lies at the basis of an entire scientific school in psychology, which most actively begins to develop in the 21st century.

It is impossible to downplay Vygotsky's contribution to the development of national defectology, age and pedagogical psychology. Many of his works only today receive their true assessment and development, now the honorary place in the history of Russian psychology occupies such a name as Lev Vygotsky. The books of the scientist are constantly reprinted, his drafts and sketches are published, the analysis of which shows how powerful and original his ideas and plans were.

Vygotsky's pupils are the pride of Russian psychology, fruitfully developing it and their own ideas. In 2002, the book of the scientist "Psychology" was published, in which his fundamental research in the basic sections of science, such as general, social, clinical, age psychology, and developmental psychology were combined. Today this textbook is the base for all universities in the country.

Personal life

Like any scientist, Vygotsky Lev Semenovich, whose psychology has become a matter of life, gave most of his time to work. But in Gomel, he had a like-minded woman, a bride, and later a wife - Roza Noevna Smekhova. The couple lived a short life together - only 10 years, but it was a happy marriage. The couple had two daughters: Gita and Asya. Both became scientists, Gita Lvovna - a psychologist and defectologist, Asya Lvovna - a biologist. She continued the psychological dynasty and granddaughter of the scientist - Elena Evgenievna Kravtsova, who now heads the Institute of Psychology named after her grandfather.

End of the road

Even in the early 1920s, Leo Vygotsky became ill with tuberculosis. He became the cause of his death in 1934. The scientist continued to work until the end of the day and said on the last day of his life: "I'm ready." The last years of the psychologist's life were complicated by thickening clouds around his work. There were repressions and persecutions, so death allowed him to avoid arrest, and saved his relatives from reprisals.