The practical essence of man : : the 'activity approach' in late Soviet philosophy / / edited by Andrey Maidansky, Vesa Oittinen.

• Superior document: Historical Materialism Book Series, Volume 108
• TeilnehmendeR: Maidansky, Andrey,; Oittinen, Vesa, 1951-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : Brill,, 2016.; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 108.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (210 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Front Matter /; Introduction /; Activity and the Search for True Materialism /; ‘Praxis’ as the Criterion of Truth? The Aporias of Soviet Marxism and the Activity Approach /; Reality as Activity: The Concept of Praxis in Soviet Philosophy /; The Category of Activity in Soviet Philosophy /; The Activity Approach and Metaphysics /; Abstract and Concrete Understanding of Activity: ‘Activity’ and ‘Labour’ in Soviet Philosophy /; The Kiev Philosophical School in the Light of the Marxist Theory of Activity /; The Evolution of Batishchev’s Views on the Nature of Objective Activity, and the Limits of the Activity Approach /; The Activity Approach in Soviet Philosophy and Contemporary Cognitive Studies /; The Concept of the Scheme in the Activity Theories of Ilyenkov and Piaget /; The Ideal and the Dream-World: Evald Ilyenkov and Walter Benjamin on the Significance of Material Objects /; Bibliography /; Index /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 900427314X
• ISSN: 1570-1522
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: edited by Andrey Maidansky, Vesa Oittinen.

For the first time, this book presents to Western readers a current in the late Soviet philosophy of the 1960s and 1970s known as the ‘activity approach’. It had to some degree a counterpart in so-called cultural-historical psychology, but whilst the work of Vygotsky and Leontyev was received in the West decades ago, its sibling in philosophy has remained virtually unnoticed. Started by Evald Ilyenkov and other young Moscow philosophers in the early 1960s, the activity approach soon became an intellectual mode, leading to several different interpretations of human activity and challenging Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. The book depicts in detail the rise and fall of this remarkable phenomenon in Soviet Marxism. Contributors are: David Bakhurst, Aleksandr Khamidov, Vladislav Lektorsky, Alex Levant, Pentti Määttänen, Andrey Maidansky, Sergei Mareyev, Elena Mareyeva, Vesa Oittinen, Edward Swiderski, and Inna Titarenko.