Davydov’s concept of the concept and its dialectical materialist background

Abstract

The goal of this article is to investigate Davydov’s concept of the concept against the backdrop of its philosophical system, namely, dialectical materialism. In the first part, after briefly sketching the context of Davydov’s work, I consider some ontological and epistemological ideas on which Davydov bases his concept of the concept. I pay particular attention to Hegel’s and Marx’s contributions. Then, I discuss Davydov’s concept of the concept and the relationship between the logical and the historical—a relationship that proved to be crucial in the making of the educational curricular program he and El’konin launched in the 1960s in Russia. I argue that, in tune with the dominant epistemology of the twentieth century, Davydov’s concept of the concept is based on a scientific outlook of the world, one in which theoretical scientific thought is considered the pinnacle of human cognition. I conclude with a critique that intends to place the notion of the concept in a broader dialectical materialist perspective.