This paper sets out to present a novel construal of one of the notions of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory viz., zone of proximal development (ZPD) drawing upon dynamic systems theory. The principal thesis maintains that ZDP is an emergent and dynamic system which is engendered by a dialectical concatenation of psychogenesic and sociogenesic facets of human development over time. It is reasoned that Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development, by invoking dialectical logic, has transcended Cartesian substance dualism and in turn has proffered a monistic and process-anchored ontology for emerging becoming of human consciousness. Likewise, it is contended that dynamic systems theory, having assumed fluent flux of reality with a capital R as its ontological axiom, entails a consilience of cognitive and contextual conceptual schemes to describe, explain, and optimize human development. The paper concludes by drawing some interpretive conclusions in regard to ZPD from dynamic systems theory perspective.Keywords Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Vygotskian Cultural-Historical Theory.Dynamic Systems Theory. Emergence. Dialectical Logic. 2This article seeks to present a novel interpretation concerning one of the seminal constructs of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory (hereafter CHT) (Vygotsky 1978(Vygotsky , 1981(Vygotsky , 1986(Vygotsky , 1997a, zone of proximal development (ZPD), drawing upon some aspects of dynamic systems theory (hereafter DST) which is current in developmental science.DST 'signifies a multidisciplinary and overarching frame of reference for multiple theoretic persuasions which endeavor to study becoming-in-time dynamics of emergent, complex and non-linear systems' (Karimi-Aghdam 2016b, p. 95). Within disciplinary ambit of developmental science, DST is a unifying metatheory -a paradigmatic and overarching outlook about systems-based approaches and theories-for describing, explaining, and optimizing human development (Lerner 1978(Lerner , 1996(Lerner , 2006 After being kept in abeyance for quite a long time, CHT and ZPD were introduced into Western scholarly circles in early seventies (see Van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991 In order to better grasp the relation between CHT and DST, it may be useful to refer to some of the undercurrents of dialectical thinking. The extent to which dialectical triad (thesis, antithesis and synthesis) is invoked to describe 'developments of ideas and theories, or of movements which are based on ideas or theories' is rather adequate (Popper 1940, p.45). A nexus of following philosophical corollaries could be drawn from Hegelian dialectical theory of internal relations:(i) the whole is more than the sum of its parts; (ii) the whole determines the nature of the parts; (iii) the parts cannot be understood if considered in isolation from the whole; and (iv) the parts are dynamically interrelated or interdependent (Phillips 1969: p.7). 6 I do not maintain that idealistic kernel of German dialectical idealism spearheaded byHegel is the core of DST and Vygo...
1To cite this article, please use the following bibliographic specifics: Karimi-Aghdam, S. (2016). A dialectical reading of dynamic systems theory:Transcending socialized cognition and cognized social dualism in L2 studies. Language and Sociocultural
This article examines Vygotskian cultural-historical theory by putting it into dialogue with Stephen Pepper's root metaphor theory. I focus on Vygotsky's insistence on the dialectical unity of the phylogenetic and ontogenetic domains in ontogenesis, which he articulated in his account of how the natural-psychological and cultural-psychological lines of development merge with the emergence of speeching in ontogenesis. I compare Vygotsky's two genetic domains and Pepper's world hypotheses of organicism and contextualism. I argue that Vygotsky transcended what is often thought of as a fundamental dichotomy between organicism and contextualism. In accomplishing this effective reconciliation, Vygotsky demonstrated that it is possible both to traverse the ontological schism between subjective psychology and objective psychology, and to foreground the integrative, complex, dynamic, emergent, and mediated nature of human consciousness.
My paper, 'A Dialectical Reading of Dynamic Systems Theory: Transcending Socialized Cognition and Cognized Social Dualism in L2 Studies' (Karimi-Aghdam, 2016), is developed with a twofold purpose: to attempt an immanent critique of the received interpretation of dynamic systems theory (DST) 1 -labelled contextual DST-where I show that, in its extant L2 studies formulation, DST is essentially a deficient approach; and to suggest an alternative construal of DST-termed dialectical DST-where I purport to make a small contribution to theorizing a comprehensive, integrative, and unified conceptual framework to understand, describe, explain, and optimize the systematic changes of an L2 learner's multifaceted language cognizance, and the psychological and sociocultural processes and mechanisms engendering and underlying those changes. My paper ( 2016) is about DST, but the longstanding division between the social and cognitive dimensions of L2
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