March 8, 2000

The 14th Meeting of Mind and Activity



Saturday, November 13, 1999

3:00 pm. - 6:00 pm.
Shin-honkan (New main building)
Room #1555 (on the 5th floor)
Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo

1. Dom Berducci,

I will present background and arguments and some data questioning the Wertschian concepts of 'Referential Perspective' and 'Abbreviation'. My questioning originates in the fact that he focuses on 'information'/reference at the expense of social action (context).

Referential perspective is the perspective created by a speaker when he or she refers to an object. For example, we can call an object on a table 'the apple g3 computer'. A phrase which contains much information. Or, we can call it 'that', which contains less information.

The claim is that greater intersubjectivity is indicated when 'that' is used. As for Abbreviation, this involves leaving out explicit instructions and expecting the listener to understand in a task context. For example in a task context where A is teaching B how to use a computer and software, A may say in the beginning "Turn on the computer, open the software, create a file", but later these explicit instructions may become abbreviated and A may only say, "OK, create a file". "Turn on the computer" and "Open the software" are now implied, and hence learned.

2. Disscussion on Meredith Williams, 'Vygotsky's Social Theory of Mind', Chapter 10 of M. Williams, Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning. Routledge.

Dom Berducci and Aug Nishizaka will bring some topics related to the paper.