In his Preface the author' says that he started out to review all the more important theories upon the topics ordinarily discussed under human motivation but soon found himself more and more limited to the presentation of his own point of view. This very well characterizes the book. It is a very personal product. It is an outline with some defense of the author's own thinking about instincts and appetites and sentiments and how they function in human behavior. And as the author draws so heavily upon James and McDougall, especially the latter, the book may well be looked upon as a sort of sequel to their efforts. There is a thought-provoking distinction presented between instinct and appetite. An instinct is said to be aroused always by something in the external situation; and, correspondingly, an appetite is said to be aroused by sensations from within the body itself. This places, of course, a heavy emphasis upon the cognitive factor in all instinctive behaviors; and the author prefers to use the cognitive factor, especially the knowledge of that end-experience which will satisfy, as a means of differentiating one instinct from another. In this there is a recognized difference from McDougall who placed more emphasis for differentiation upon the emotional accompaniment. The list of instincts arrived at by this procedure is much like that of McDougall, although the author is forced by his criteria to present the possibility of food-seeking and sex and sleep operating both in the manner of an appetite and also as an instinct. The Shand-McDougall concept of sentiment is taken over and used in the explanation of moral motivation. There is the development within each personality of a sentiment for some moral principle. But this sentiment is not a very powerful motivating factor. It is reinforced by social pressures and by religion, which is treated as an effort of finite man to live in harmony with the infinite reality. Those whose psychological thinking is largely in terms of McDougall will doubtless find this volume a very satisfying expansion; but those who are at all inclined to support their psychological thinking by reference to experimental studies will not be so well pleased. The James-Lange theory, for example, is discussed without mention of the many experimental studies which it has provoked. Theoretical sources appear in general to be preferred to experimental investigations.

Human MotivationThe Mind in Action: A Study of Motives and Values. A. Campbell Garnett

Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature brings to light the deep sense of crisis within the profession of academic philosophy which is similar to the paralyzing pluralism in contemporary theology and the inveterate indeterminacy of literary criticism. Richard Rorty's provocative and profound meditations impel philosophers to examine the problematic status of their discipline— only to discover that modern European philosophy has come to an end. Rorty strikes a deathblow to modern European philosophy by telling a story about the emergence, development and decline of its primary props: the correspondence theory of truth, the notion of privileged representations and the idea of a self-reflective transcendental subject. Rorty's fascinating tale—his-story —is regulated by three fundamental shifts which he delineates in detail and promotes in principle: the move toward anti-realism or conventionalism in ontology, the move toward the demythologizing of the Myth of the Given or anti-foundationalism in epistemology, and the move toward detranscendentalizing the subject or dismissing the mind as a sphere of inquiry. The chief importance of Rorty's book is that it brings together in an original and intelligible narrative the major insights of the patriarchs of postmodern American philosophy—W. V. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Nelson Goodman— and persuasively presents the radical consequences of their views for contemporary philosophy. Rorty credits Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Dewey for having "brought us into a period of 'revolutionary' philosophy" by undermining the prevailing Cartesian and Kantian paradigms and advancing new conceptions of philosophy. And these monumental figures surely inspire Rorty. Yet, Rorty's philosophical debts—the actual sources of his particular anti-Cartesian and antiKantian arguments—are Quine's holism, Sellars' anti-foundationalism, and Goodman's pluralism. In short, despite his adamant attack on analytical philosophy—the last stage of modern European philosophy—Rorty feels most comfortable with the analytical form of philosophical argumentation (shunned by Wittgenstein and Heidegger). From the disparate figures of Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Dewey, Rorty gets a historicist directive: to eschew the quest for certainty and the search for foundations.

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

effective prevention campaigns. This is the \"lesson of history\" used to argue for a liberal policy approach. The book is not a work of original scholarship. Clark is bringing together a body of historical and current writing about AIDS and epidemic disease, much of which is familiar. Despite his historical analysis of widely different cultures, his focus in the present is almost entirely on the United States and the impact of AIDS in that particular culture. Even within the U.S., he takes no account of more recent disease formulations, such as the \"chronic disease\" model, which has been widely discussed. AIDS, whether rightly or wrongly, is no longer seen within the epidemic model; it would have been helpful to have some consideration of those more recent changes. Outside the U.S., too, AIDS has been a much less powerful force for the reform of health care systems. In the U.K., for example, AIDS funding has been the victim of recent health service changes rather than a driving force for change. The book is therefore of limited relevance to a non-American audience, although it is well produced and illustrated by thirteen full colour plates, ranging from a 1350 representation of Saint Sebastian to the AIDS quilt in the 1990s.

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Constructing the subject: historical origins of psychological research.

Reconstruction in Philosophy

Economía y sociedad.

This paper discusses some of the challenges concerning development social representations in current psychology. As with any theoretical construction capable of shedding light on new aspects in scientific thought, the concept of social representation has expanded itself throughout authors who use it with different theoretical and methodological bases. The concept of subjectivity, from a historical cultural standpoint, is introduced in the discussion concerning the current alternatives for the development of social representation. From this framework, subjectivity is completely redefined, gaining a new meaning as part of a completely new theoretical system. Starting from this definition, subjectivity is understood not as exclusively individual phenomena, but as an important side of any social phenomena. The concept of social subjectivity is discussed in its consequences for the social representation's development. This discussion involves social subjectivity, subject and social representation into a complex and dynamic system. Keywords: Social representations, Social subjectivity, Individual subjectivity, Emotions.

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Subjetividad social, sujeto y representaciones sociales

This article argues for the idea of different moments in Vygotsky's work while highlighting combinations of ideas and concepts that were particularly emphasized in distinct moments of his work. After Vygotsky's death, these moments were not considered a theoretical system in development, either in former Soviet psychology or in Western interpretations of his work. Vygotsky's legacy seems to have been mostly reduced to one concrete focus of his work, mistakenly identified as cultural-historical theory. The overemphasis of selected aspects of Vygotsky's work resulted in an overshadowing of other ideas that have remained relatively “unknown” until fairly recently. In this article, previously underemphasized elements in Vygotsky's psychology, such as emotions, fantasy, imagination, personality, and the generative character of human psyche, are emphasized. A consideration of these elements offers new and refreshing alternatives to Vygotsky's legacy. These previously underemphasized elements are markedly repres...

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A Re-examination of Defining Moments in Vygotsky's Work and Their Implications for His Continuing Legacy

This paper draws a picture of how topics related to subjectivity have appeared in different psychological theories, such as psychoanalysis, Gestalt and post‐structuralist approaches, discussing in-depth a specific proposition from a cultural‐historical standpoint. I argue that, in most of these theories, subjectivity has been used to refer to specific processes and phenomena without advancing a more general theory about it. The way in which subjectivity was treated within the Cartesian/Enlightenment tradition, taken together with the individualistic tradition of psychology, led critical psychological theories to reject the concept. In this way, such critical theories have omitted the heuristic value of subjectivity to study processes that can neither be exhausted by language, nor by discourse. A new proposal of subjectivity is highlighted, based on the cultural‐historical tradition in psychology. From this perspective, subjectivity is defined by units of emotions and symbolical processes generated throughout the human experience. On the basis of such definition, I discuss how institutionalized orders can be subverted by subjective productions that represent new social pathways. Far from being a remnant of Modernity, in this way subjectivity is defined as a human production, capable of transcending the apparent objective limits of human existence.

The topic of subjectivity in psychology: Contradictions, paths and new alternatives

This article discusses Vygotsky’s definitions of the concept of perezhivanie, its contradictions, and gaps. The concept of perezhivanie was first discussed by Vygotsky (1965) in The Psychology of Art, and later in 1933–1934 he returns to its discussion. The different meanings of the concept are discussed throughout the present article. Despite the vagueness in the definition of the psychological nature of perezhivanie, the ideas developed by Vygotsky regarding this concept represented an advance in the study of motivation and psychological development in Soviet psychology. At the same time, the concept was an important premise for the study of subjectivity.

Vygotsky’s Concept of Perezhivanie in The Psychology of Art and at the Final Moment of His Work: Advancing His Legacy

Vygotsky, at the end of his life, advanced a new representation of a psychological system that was ruled by a cognitive-emotional unity, a theorization that remains inconclusive due to Vygotsky's early death. This article discusses the advances made by Vygotsky in the comprehension of human motivation through his concepts of sense and perezhivanie at the end of his work. Through these concepts, he further advanced the discussion of motivation, despite the fact that these concepts have only very recently been considered a relevant part of his legacy in both Russian and Western psychology. This paper discusses the departure from and the historical presentations of the concept of motive in the following two main approaches of Soviet psychology that were mistakenly equated in Western interpretations: Vygotsky's approach, mainly at the first as last moment of his work, and Leontiev's Activity Theory. Based on the final theoretical positions of Vygotsky and of other Soviet authors, and further developing this legacy, this article proposes a new definition of motivation as a specific quality of subjectively configured systems and defines motive as intrinsic to the functioning of all psychological function defines subjective functions as subjectively configured processes. This new proposal of human motivation within a new way of defining subjectivity defines new categories as subjective senses and subjective configurations on which the author bases a specific approach for advancing the topic of subjectivity and motivation within a cultural-historical framework.

Fernando González Rey

Papers

Subjetividad social, sujeto y representaciones sociales

A Re-examination of Defining Moments in Vygotsky's Work and Their Implications for His Continuing Legacy

The topic of subjectivity in psychology: Contradictions, paths and new alternatives

Vygotsky’s Concept of Perezhivanie in The Psychology of Art and at the Final Moment of His Work: Advancing His Legacy

Human Motivation in Question: Discussing Emotions, Motives, and Subjectivity from a Cultural‐Historical Standpoint