Search

Both the semiotic analysis of texts from traditional cultures and experimental investigation of thinking in these cultures reveal coincidences between the thinking of adults from traditional groups and the thinking of European children. The fact that followers of Piaget equate the thinking of adults in traditional societies with the thinking of European children was recently criticized by M. Cole, but he too did not explain the reason for the coincidence in experimental results and, correspondingly, in thinking.[10] Second, this paper accepts Vygotsky's proposition that the development of verbal thinking involves the continuous advance in the way words are used in thinking to other ways that are qualitatively different (Vygotsky 1956). The functional approach to thinking that we have adopted leads to the conclusion that ontogenesis of thinking in principle cannot lead to the emergence of thinking in scientific, consciously perceived concepts unless the culture has texts that demand this type of thinking and unless the development of children's thinking is guided a certain way. [Extracted from the article]