Subject, Object, Cognition

V. A. Lektorsky

INTRODUCTION 6

Part One
CONCEPTIONS OF COGNITIVE RELATION IN THE NON‑MARXIST EPISTEMOLOGICAL THEORIES

Chapter 1. INTERPRETATION OF COGNITION AS INTERACTION OF TWO NATURAL SYSTEMS 21

1. Interpretation of Knowledge as the Result of a Causal Effect of the Object on the Subject 21

2. The Theory of Cognitive "Equilibrium" Between Subject and Object 27

3. The View of Cognition as an Ensemble of the Subject's Physical Operations 38

Chapter 2. THE INTERPRETATION OF COGNITION AS DETERMINED BY THE STRUCTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS 48

1. The Problem of Substantiating Knowledge and "Radical" Reflexion 48

2. Transcendental Subject, Empirical Subject. The Conception of Self‑Certainty of Transcendental Consciousness as Guarantee of the Objectiveness of Knowledge   62

3. The Fact of Knowledge and the Transcendental Interpretation of the Conditions of Its Possibility    79

4. The Conception of the "Life World" and the Uniqueness of the Place of the Empirical Subject in the Structure of Experience          87

5. The Interpretation of Cognition as Conditioned by the Individual Consciousness and, at the Same Time, Mystifying the Essence of the Latter. The Ego, “the Others", and the World of Objects                 95

Part Two
THE MARXIST APPROACH: COGNITION AS SOCIALLY‑MEDIATED HISTORICALLY DEVELOPING ACTIVITY OF REFLECTION

Chapter 1. REFLECTION. OBJECT‑RELATED PRACTICAL ACTIVITY AND COMMUNICATION 118

1. Sensory Information and Object‑Related Knowledge 118

2. Illusions and Reality 127

3. Cognition and Object‑Related Practical Activity 134

4. Reification of Knowledge, Communication, and the Social Nature of Cognition 144

Chapter 2. THEORY AND THE WORLD OF OBJECTS 155

1. Observable and Non‑Observable Objects 155

2. Idealised and Real Objects 166

Chapter 3. "ALTERNATIVE" WORLDS AND THE PROBLEM OF CONTINUITY OF EXPERIENCE 174

1. Objectiveness of Knowledge and the Possibility of a Gap Between Perceptive and Conceptual Systems 174

2. The Conception of Ontological Relativity             180

3. Translation and the Problem of Understanding             193

4. "Other Worlds" and the Successive Replacement of the Forms of Objectification of Knowledge             210

Chapter 4. REFLEXION ABOUT KNOWLEDGE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITION 214

1. Self‑Consciousness and Reflexion. Explicit and Implicit Knowledge             214

2. Substantiation and Development of Knowledge                   218

3. Reflexion as a Unity of Reflection and Transformation of Its Object 227

4. The Collective Subject. The Individual Subject             232

5. How Is a Theory of Cognition Possible?             248

CONCLUSION 258

NOTES 262

Name Index 278

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

A great interest is shown in recent English and American literature on epistemology and the philosophy of science in the problem of the development of knowledge, of the socio‑cultural conditions for scientific cognition, and the possibility and fruitfulness of the so‑called realistic interpretation of scientific knowledge. I believe that the reader abroad is not always fully aware that the view of knowledge in general and scientific knowledge in particular as historically developing, the orientation at studying cognition in a socio‑cultural context, and perception of knowledge as reproduction of objective reality are not something entirely new to Marxist philosophers. These approaches express the most significant traits of the Marxist study of knowledge and cognition. It is important to note that the interpretation of these problems in Marxist philosophy is essentially different from those of other philosophical trends. Here I have made an attempt at a Marxist presentation of these problems at the present level of their development. In all cases, of course, I offer my own interpretation and solution of the problems considered. At the same time I endeavour to take into account the results obtained by other Soviet scholars (e.g., in the philosophical interpretation of psychological data in terms of the so‑called theory of activity).

I believe that the critical analysis from the Marxist positions of the conceptions of some influential modern English and American philosophers, methodologists, and historians of science (P. W. Bridgman, Th. Kuhn, W. Quine, K. Popper, and others) will be of some interest to the reader of the English edition.

I would like to point out a growing interest of the Soviet researchers today in the study of problems of knowledge with due reference to the data of the special sciences about cognition and at the same time in a broad world-view, socio‑cultural, and historical context, in terms of the dialectics of subject and object, of the object‑related practical and cognitive activity. I assume that the nearest future will see further publications on the subject. In any case, I intend to continue the studies begun in this book.

V. Lektorsky
Moscow
November 1982

[—> Contents]

Lektorsky, V.A. [Lektorskii, V. A.]; translated by Sergei Syrovatkin. Subject, Object, Cognition (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1984), pp. 3-5.

Note: In addition to links below, note also this publication:

Lektorsky, V. A., ed. Activity: The Theory, Methodology, and Problems. CRC Press, 1990.

"The Collective Subject. The Individual Subject" by V. A. Lektorsky

Idealised and Real Objects by V. A. Lektorsky

"Cognition in the Context of Culture" by Vladislav Lektorsky

"Man as the Object of Cognition in Arts Subjects" by L. I. Novikova

Salvaging Soviet Philosophy (1)

Vienna Circle, Karl Popper, Frankfurt School, Marxism, McCarthyism & American Philosophy: Selected Bibliography

Offsite:

"The Dialectic of Subject and Object and some Problems of the Methodology of Science" by V. A. Lektorsky
at Marxists Internet Archive & leninist.biz

Subject, Object, Cognition by V. A. Lektorsky
at Marxists Internet Archive & leninist.biz

CONTACT Ralph Dumain

Uploaded 30 September 2004
Links added 12 June 2005 & 5 Aug 2009

Subject, Object, Cognition

V. A. Lektorsky

CONTENTS