Published on the recommendation of the Editorial and Publishing Council of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences. The USSR. Published on the recommendation of the editorial and publishing council of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR Leontiev Selected Psychological Works Volume 2

Scanning and Formatting:Pierre Martinkus [email protected] mail .ru

A.N. Leontiev

Selected psychological works

full members and corresponding members

academies

Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR

Academy of Pedagogical Sciences

A. N. Leontiev

Favorites

psychological

works

In two volumes Volume I

Edited by

V. V. Davydov, V. P. Zinchenko, A. A. Leontiev, A. V. Petrovsky

Reviewers:

Doctor of Psychology A. N. Sokolov, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences E. I. Rudneva

Leontiev A. N. Selected psychological works: In 2 vols. T. I -M .: Pedagogy, 1983. - 392 p., ill.

In the subtitle ..: APN of the USSR. Per. 1 p. 50 k.

The volume contains works grouped into three thematic sections. The first section included works different years reflecting the formation and development of the methodological foundations of modern Soviet psychology. The second section includes two major works, which reveal the provisions on the emergence of mental reflection and its development in the process of phylogeny before the birth of human consciousness. The third section contains works devoted to the study of mental development in the process of ontogenesis. A number of works are published for the first time.

For specialists in the field of psychology, pedagogy and philosophy.

l 4303000000-025 24_g, LBC 88

To the 80th anniversary

birthday

laureate of the Lenin Prize,

professors

Alexey Nikolaevich

LEONTIEV

From the compilers

Offered to the attention of the reader "Selected psychological works" by A. N. Leontiev is the first posthumous edition of the works of an outstanding scientist. In this regard, the editorial board faces the difficult task of choosing from the vast scientific heritage of A. N. Leontiev precisely those works that most fully convey the main thing in his work. How in the mosaic of works written in different time and on different occasions, to single out that logical core, that one, as Aleksey Nikolayevich himself would say, “giving meaning to everything that has been done”? Neither the chronology of the appearance of works, which mechanically arranges all the works on a faceless time axis, nor fundamental collections, such as "Problems in the Development of the Psyche", do not facilitate the solution of this problem. The greatest thing that the collections reflect is the logic of one or another period of A. N. Leontiev's creative searches, and not a single panorama of his complex and sometimes contradictory theoretical heritage. Nor do such collections reveal the place occupied by A. N. Leontiev both in the school of L. S. Vygotsky and in the history of psychological science. In this regard, in this edition, the chronological principle is everywhere subordinate to the logical one.

The logical principle underlying the composition of this edition of the psychological works of A.N. Leontiev, can be characterized as the principle of historicism, a historical approach to the study of mental phenomena; A. N. Leontiev struggled all his life for the embodiment of this principle in the fabric of concrete research. The composition of the selected works is compiled in such a way as to help the reader to see more clearly the formation of Soviet psychology as "historical human psychology". In accordance with this, the two-volume book is divided into five logical bound friend with other sections.

The first section "Historical Approach to the Study of Psychic Phenomena" reflects the development by A. N. Leontiev of one of the central ideas of his theory - the idea of the socio-historical nature of the human psyche. The section opens with a short article in which A. N. Leontiev, saying goodbye to L. S. Vygotsky, seems to take over the creative baton from him. In it and the next article, the essence of the teachings of L.S. Vygotsky and assesses his personality, his role in Soviet psychology. Then comes the experimental study on the psychology of memory, which has already become a classic, in which the principles of the cultural-historical theory of the psyche are implemented, and the first published study of speech, previously known to psychologists only from the oral presentations of A. N. Leontiev. The section ends with the author’s relatively recent works “The Biological and Social in the Human Psyche” and “On the Historical Approach to the Study of the Human Psyche”, in which A. N. Leontiev, as it were, sums up the development of the principle of historicism in psychology.

Thus, all articles of the first section are united by the idea that to comprehend mental phenomena means to study them in the process of development, to reveal the history of their formation. But any story will only lead to a superficial description if the forces that create it are not revealed. What generates mental reflection? What are the patterns of its functioning and development? Answering a question about driving forces development of the psyche, about the true demiurge of mental reflection, A. N. Leontiev introduces the category of activity, in the analysis of which he sees the initial moment of cognition of the world of mental phenomena. The historical approach remains fruitless if it does not implement the idea of the analysis of objective activity as the main method. Here is the alpha and omega of Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity.

In the second, third and fourth sections, the principle of the historical approach to the psyche is concretized on the material of phylogenesis, ontogenesis and the functional development of mental reflection. Even the titles of the sections themselves speak of the accepted logic of the composition of Selected Psychological Works: the emergence and evolution of the psyche, the development of the psyche in ontogeny, and, finally, the functioning of various forms of mental reflection. All these sections are united by the idea of A. N. Leontiev that

only through an analysis of objective activity can modern psychology come to the discovery of the true laws governing the functioning and development of the psyche, to an objective study of the psyche. If, however, in the early stages of the formation of the school of L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev and A. R. Luria, the category of objective activity was introduced, albeit in very respectable, but still auxiliary roles, namely as a means of an explanatory principle when studying, for example, the development of mental reflection in the course of biological evolution, or the development of the child’s psyche, or the generation of an image, then subsequently A. N. Leontiev’s theoretical searches are more and more focused on the study of objective activity itself, its structure and dynamics, its explanatory potential.

These searches received the most complete form in the work “Activity. Consciousness. Personality”, which opens the last, fifth, section of the two-volume book. This section also contains works written and partially published by A. N. Leontiev in the last years of his life. In them, as it were, the "zone of proximal development" of the theory of activity, its prospects, are outlined.

The two-volume edition includes a complete bibliography of the works of A. N. Leontiev published for the first time. All articles are provided with brief comments.

That's in in general terms composition of "Selected psychological works" by A. N. Leontiev.

A. G. Asmolov, M. P. Leontieva

Scanning and formatting: Pierre Martinkus [email protected] mail.ru

A.N. Leontiev

Selected psychological works
Volume 1

full members and corresponding members

academies

Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR

Academy of Pedagogical Sciences

A. N. Leontiev

Favorites

psychological

Edited by

V. V. Davydov, V. P. Zinchenko, A. A. Leontiev, A. V. Petrovsky

Moscow

"Pedagogy"
BBC 88
Printed on recommendation

Editorial and Publishing Council

Academy of Pedagogical Sciences. the USSR

Compiled by A. G. Asmolov, M. P. Leontieva

Reviewers:

Doctor of Psychology A. N. Sokolov, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences E. I. Rudneva

Leontiev A. N. Selected psychological works: In 2 vols. T. I -M .: Pedagogy, 1983. - 392 p., ill.
In the subtitle ..: APN of the USSR. Per. 1 p. 50 k.

The volume contains works grouped into three thematic sections. The first section includes works of different years, reflecting the formation and development methodological foundations modern Soviet psychology. The second section includes two major works, which reveal the provisions on the emergence of mental reflection and its development in the process of phylogeny before the birth of human consciousness. The third section contains works devoted to the study of mental development in the process of ontogenesis. A number of works are published for the first time.

For specialists in the field of psychology, pedagogy and philosophy.

L 4303000000-025 24_g, LBC 88

To the 80th anniversary

birthday

laureate of the Lenin Prize,

professors

Alexey Nikolaevich

LEONTIEV

From the compilers

Offered to the attention of the reader "Selected psychological works" by A. N. Leontiev is the first posthumous edition of the works of an outstanding scientist. In this regard, the editorial board faces the difficult task of choosing from the vast scientific heritage of A. N. Leontiev precisely those works that most fully convey the main thing in his work. How, in the mosaic of works written at different times and for different reasons, is it possible to single out that logical core, that one, as Alexei Nikolayevich himself would say, “giving meaning to everything done”? Neither the chronology of the appearance of works, which mechanically arranges all the works on a faceless time axis, nor fundamental collections, such as "Problems in the Development of the Psyche", do not facilitate the solution of this problem. The greatest thing that the collections reflect is the logic of one or another period of A. N. Leontiev's creative searches, and not a single panorama of his complex and sometimes contradictory theoretical heritage. Nor do such collections reveal the place occupied by A. N. Leontiev both in the school of L. S. Vygotsky and in the history of psychological science. In this regard, in this edition, the chronological principle is everywhere subordinate to the logical one.

Thus, all articles of the first section are united by the idea that to comprehend mental phenomena means to study them in the process of development, to reveal the history of their formation. But any story will only lead to a superficial description if the forces that create it are not revealed. What generates mental reflection? What are the patterns of its functioning and development? Answering the question about the driving forces of the development of the psyche, about the true demiurge of mental reflection, A. N. Leontiev introduces the category of activity, in the analysis of which he sees the initial moment of cognition of the world of mental phenomena. The historical approach remains fruitless if it does not implement the idea of the analysis of objective activity as the main method. Here is the alpha and omega of Leontiev's general psychological theory of activity.

only through an analysis of objective activity can modern psychology come to the discovery of the true laws governing the functioning and development of the psyche, to an objective study of the psyche. If, however, in the early stages of the formation of the school of L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev and A. R. Luria, the category of objective activity was introduced, albeit in very respectable, but still auxiliary roles, namely as a means of an explanatory principle when studying, for example, the development of mental reflection in the course of biological evolution, or the development of the child’s psyche, or the generation of an image, then subsequently the theoretical searches of A. N. Leontiev are more and more focused on the study of objective activity itself, its structure and dynamics, its explanatory potential.

The two-volume edition includes a complete bibliography of the works of A. N. Leontiev published for the first time. All articles are provided with brief comments.

Such, in general terms, is the composition of "Selected Psychological Works" by A. N. Leontiev.

A. G. Asmolov, M. P. Leontieva
7

A. N. Leontiev and the development of modern psychology

There are scientists whose fates are inextricably linked with the history of the formation of science and their country. Among them is, along with such prominent psychologists as Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, Alexander Romanovich Luria, and Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev. Of course, speaking about the personality of this scientist, one could characterize him as one of the founders of Soviet psychology and the creator of the theory of activity, without which domestic science is unthinkable today, one could give a long list of his ranks and regalia. But will such information bring even one iota closer to understanding the work and personality of A. N. Leontiev? Will they reveal to us the secret of where the audacity came from in three young people - L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev and A. R. Luria, which prompted them to set themselves the task of creating a new type of psychology - Marxist psychology? They undertook this task, unheard of in its difficulty, undertook and solved it.

The beginning of the scientific activity of L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev and A. R. Luria almost coincides with the beginning of the history of the Soviet country. And it is very significant that the construction of

howling psychology began not with theory, but with practice: pedagogical, child psychology, defectology (L. S. Vygotsky); clinic and study of identical twins (A. R. Luria); concept formation at schoolchildren (A. N. Leontiev); psychological foundations for illustrating children's fairy tales and the development of a child's thinking (A. V. Zaporozhets); children's mastery of the simplest tools (P. Ya. Galperin); development and formation of the memory of schoolchildren (P.I. Zinchenko) - this is far from full list those practical problems that were solved in the team headed by L. S. Vygotsky, and after his death A. N. Leontiev and A. R. Luria. They worked hard and happily. Theory was for them a means, not an end. They all participated in the great transformations taking place in the country, did everything to ensure that psychology made its contribution to these transformations. It is characteristic that, speaking of practice, L. S. Vygotsky repeatedly compared it with a stone, which the builders despised and which became the cornerstone. And this path turned out to be correct. It was he who led to the theory.

First scientific papers there is a unique charm, an amazing, bordering on insight freshness of the look. And, perhaps, that is why the first works are more marked by the seal of the personality of the writer. Such a work, undoubtedly, is the first book by A. N. Leontiev, The Development of Memory (1931), which contains the main provisions of the future psychological theory of activity.

Mention should also be made of the struggle and ideological controversy in which this theory was born. And the struggle went on not only from outside, but also within the school of L. S. Vygotsky. In the first major publication of P.I. Zinchenko, dated 1939, was given in the highest degree harsh criticism of the works of L. S. Vygotsky and A. N. Leontiev, but at the same time, “the author of the article did not fail to point out that his study of involuntary memory was carried out under the direction of A. N. Leontiev.

The significance of the psychological theory of activity for the development of modern psychology can be briefly characterized as follows.

1. Its development in our country is not a trend, but a call of the times, it is an achievement of all psychological science. Not only the school of L. S. Vygotsky - A. N. Leontiev, but also a number of outstanding psychologists who belonged to other trends and schools, made a huge contribution to its creation. One can name the names of B. G. Ananiev, M. Ya. Basov, P. P. Blonsky, S. L. Rubinshtein, A. A. Smirnov, B. M. Teplov, D. N. Uznadze. The contribution of S. L. Rubinshtein was the most significant.

2. Psychological theory activities assimilated, mastered, practically reworked the achievements and experience of world psychological science.

3. This theory has absorbed general scientific achievements, the explication of which is an important condition for the development of any scientific

noah discipline. Such achievements include the theory of evolution by the outstanding biologist A.N. Severtsov, the unique research of the creator of biopsychology V.A. Wagner, the results of studies of the physiology of the brain, the work of the sense organs and the motor apparatus obtained by I.M. Sechenov, C. Sherrington, N. E. Vvedensky, A. A. Ukhtomsky, I. P. Pavlov, and especially N. A. Bernstein.

This theory is inseparable from the advanced historical and philosophical tradition, the explication of the achievements of which in relation to the problems of psychology was carried out primarily by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev and S. L. Rubinshtein, and then continued as followers and students of Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev himself , and Soviet philosophers and methodologists of science, such as E. V. Ilyenkov, P. V. Kopnin, V. A. Lektorsky, A. P. Ogurtsov, V. S. Shvyrev, E. G. Yudin and many others .
The creation of a psychological theory of activity is connected with understanding the achievements of the humanities and art. These achievements in the works of L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Elkonin, A. A. Leontiev have been mastered only partially, and further work on the development by psychologists of the scientific heritage of such art researchers as M. M. Bakhtin, P. Valeri seems very relevant. , A.F. Losev and many others.
The psychological theory of activity is closely connected with the applied branches of psychology. Between this theory and its practical applications, there is an incessant exchange and mutual enrichment of ideas, methods, and results. In a number of branches of psychology, this theory has reached high levels of operationalization in the best sense of the word. In other words, the main provisions of the theory of activity are reflected in almost all sections of psychological science. Therefore, it is not by chance that it is called the general psychological theory of activity.

It is hardly necessary to analyze this theory in detail here. For this, the reader is better off referring to the works of Aleksei Nikolaevich himself published in two volumes, but the main idea of the general psychological theory of activity, which sounded most prominently in the last book published during the life of A. N. Leontiev, “Activity. Consciousness. Personality, I would like to analyze in more detail.

In an attempt to understand and evaluate any case, it is necessary first of all to proceed from its purpose. is no exception in this regard. scientific theory. The final point, the guideline for the development of the psychological theory of consciousness for A. N. Leontiev was the problem of the “psychological world”, “the image of the world”. The starting point of his theoretical construction was the category of life. Simultaneous and, in a certain sense, countermovement from these categories, which are limiting for psychology, should have given rise to a theory of human consciousness. At the same time, both categories are constantly present at every moment of the development of this theory, constituting its soul, its innermost essence. These categories were already present,

though not in such a clear form, in the first works of A. N. Leontiev on the problem of the emergence of minds.

It is useful to recall the ideological situation that developed in the school of L. FROM. Vygotsky by the 30s. L. S. Vygotsky himself at that time was most interested in the problem of the genesis and structure of consciousness. Ultimately, his studies of higher mental functions, such as emotions, imagination, thinking, and speech, were directed to its solution. It is no coincidence that L. S. Vygotsky ends the book Thinking and Speech as follows: “Consciousness reflects itself in the word, like the sun in a small drop of water. The word is related to consciousness as the small world is to the big one, as the living cell is to the organism, as the atom is to the cosmos. It is the small world of consciousness. A meaningful word is a microcosm of human consciousness” (1934, p. 318). The same goal was pursued by the first studies of attention and memory, carried out by A.N. Leontiev under the direction of L.S. Vygotsky.

In the mid 30s. A. Leontiev addresses the problem of the genesis of the psyche. He, together with A. V. Zaporozhets, develops a hypothesis according to which the emergence of elementary sensitivity is associated with cardinal changes in the living conditions of organic beings. He connects the transformation of irritability into sensitivity with the transition of organisms from existence in a homogeneous environment to life in an environment that is materially formed, consisting of individual objects. Solving the problem of the emergence of the psyche, A. N. Leontiev proceeded from the world (life conditions), narrowing it down to an object of need when formulating his hypothesis. Thus, he consistently moves from the concept of "life" to the concept of "life activity", then to the concept of "activity", which becomes central to his psychological concept. No less important role in this concept is played by the concept of “object of activity”. Just as activity itself is a unit of life, so the fundamental moment constituting it, the object of activity, is nothing but a unit of the world. Without taking into account this provision, it is impossible to understand the idea of A. N. Leontiev, according to which the motive of activity is an object that meets the needs of the subject.

Indeed, why is an external object, a thing, the motive of my activity? But can he in and of himself motivate me? Is it not my need, my desire, my anticipation of the pleasure of mastering this object or contact with it that compels me to act? And in general, I must first at least perceive this thing before it (and therefore no longer it, but its image) can have a motivating effect on me. Indeed, even if we assume for a moment that things in themselves induce the subject to activity, then in this case he becomes a puppet in the hands of things: activity would be actualized whenever an external object appears near the subject, regardless of whether the subject has this moment need for it or not. But since in reality such a situation is not observed, then, consequently, the initial

the assumption that the function of the motive of activity is performed by its subject is incorrect.

In such reasoning lies, as Alexei Nikolaevich liked to say, "a great psychological truth, but at the same time a great lie." Things in themselves cannot really induce activity. But that doesn't mean the item doesn't have that ability. The methodological core of the question lies in the fact that the subject does not live in the world of things and events in and of themselves, as the abstraction of the isolated Robinson's existence of man suggests. The essence of this abstraction lies in the fact that in the ontology a person (as an abstract isolated human individual) and the world are considered separately and irrespective of each other. The latter, of course, can be taken and is taken at the same time "only in the form of an object or in the form of contemplation, and not as a sensually human activity, practice, not subjectively" 1 . In other words, if we did not initially put into the ontology of psychological theory some positive, practical, active, vital connection between the individual and the world, but consider them as two separate and opposed things and only then look for those forms of connections that follow from the nature of these things, then we will inevitably come to one of the two possibilities envisaged in the above statement of K. Marx. In the first case, we will see reality through the eyes of an absolute external observer who does not take into account the fact of the presence and action in the world of a living and passionate subject (that is, we will take it only in the form of an object). In the second case, we will see reality through the eyes of, so to speak, an absolute subjective observer who does not take into account the objective characteristics of reality, which are revealed only in practical activity (i.e., we take reality only in the form of contemplation).

A. N. Leontiev in his research proceeded from ontological premises that are directly opposite to the abstraction of the Robinson's existence of man. The ontology underlying the psychological theory of activity of A. N. Leontiev can be called the ontology of “human existence in the world”. It proceeds from the fact that nowhere, except in our abstractions, do we find a person before and outside the world, outside of his real and effective connection with objective reality. His life world is, strictly speaking, the only stimulus, source of energy and content of life. When, for the purpose of constructing a psychological theory, we single out a separate activity as units of the subject's life, then within the framework of this positive abstraction, the world is represented as a separate object, which in essence is nothing more than a unit of the life world. An object, therefore, is not just a thing, but a thing already included in being, already becoming a necessary “organ” of this being, already subjective itself

1 Marx K., Engels F. Soch., v. -42. from. 261.

mime life process to any special (contemplative) development of it.

This is one of the most difficult points in the psychological theory of activity. Perplexity and objections are often expressed about him, including such that the concept of A. N. Leontiev's motivation does not correspond to the facts. If it were true, living beings, faced with the object of need, each time would begin to satisfy it, would become slaves of the objective world. With regard to this objection, it is no different from the "refutation" of the law of free fall by empirical facts of the fall of bodies that do not correspond to the formula of this law. The point is that any regularity, including the now discussed regularity of stimulating activity by an object, is realized in its pure form only under ideal conditions. IN this case such a condition is the “separateness” of the activity, i.e., the absence of influence on its motivation by other activities of the subject, but this is precisely the point in the theoretical movement where the idea of the object of need as the only instance of motivation ceases to work and the introduction of additional ideas about the internal processes of consciousness, mediating the motivation of activity. Consequently, objective activity gives rise to the psyche, as an organ of its own regulation, freeing activity from fatal situational dependence. And higher mental functions in the psychological theory of activity retain the features of this objective activity. On this understanding, an approach is built to study the processes of perception, memory, thinking as systems of perceptual, mnemonic mental actions, an approach developed by the school of L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, A. R. Luria.

Thus, the thesis is confirmed that the activity theory of the psyche and consciousness is built under the sign of two leading categories - life and the world. In order to correctly understand this theory, one must always remember in what ontological space it is built. This space is not physical and not phenomenal, although it is connected with both, being, as it were, on their borders, this is the life world, “whose matter is activity”. And this matter is characterized by its own biodynamic and sensual tissue. In addition, since we are talking about a person and human activity, this world is saturated with signs, symbolism, normativity, which objectively (that is, regardless of individual consciousness and arbitrariness) structure it. Here we are talking not about the objective activity of man, but about the historically developing objective activity of mankind. Therefore, according to A. N. Leontiev, “... the “operator” of perception is not just the accumulated associations of sensations and not apperception in the Kantian sense, but social practice” (nast, ed., vol. II, p. 133). But perception is at the same time subject to general properties, connections, patterns of reality: “This is another, more complete expression of the objectivity of subjective

image, which now appears not only in its initial relation to the reflected object, but also in its relation to the objective world as a whole” (ibid., p. 133).

And here we meet with an extremely interesting evolution of the views of A. N. Leontiev. If, in investigating the genesis of sensations, he had to narrow down the world, reduce it to a separate object of satisfying a need, or even to its individual properties, then almost 40 years later, in the analysis of complex processes of perception, A.N. Leontiev makes the opposite move. He "expands" a separate object to the boundaries of the objective world as such. It turns out that the condition for the adequacy of the perception of an individual object is the adequate perception of the objective world as a whole and the relation of the object to this world. What has been said means, among other things, that the new ontology of psychological reality required a different conceptual scheme for its description and the development of new methods for its study compared to those developed in classical psychology. Let us illustrate this with the example of the activity theory of consciousness, taking it in a historical context.

The theory of consciousness of classical psychology is inseparable from its introspective method. Consciousness, observed as a direct internal reflection, was represented either as a space in which mental processes unfold, or as a special quality of these processes - their greater or lesser “illumination”. One way or another, consciousness was understood as a special entity that has an independent existence, which can and should be studied, abstracting from those impurities that are introduced into it from the outside: from experience social relations the individual and his interaction with things in the external world. In other words, the method of investigating consciousness was to purify direct experience from any external contents, to deobjectify it, and the resulting residue was the desired pure consciousness. However, every time it turned out that after such "evaporation" the introspection of the researcher rested on a void, so that there was nothing left but to take it for consciousness itself.

An analysis of the classical psychology of consciousness, done by A. N. Leontiev, showed the futility of studying individual consciousness outside of its connections, firstly, with the concrete being of a person and, secondly, with social consciousness.

This means one simple and at the same time terribly difficult thing to understand. Just as it is with great difficulty that we get used to the idea of relativity in physics, it is difficult for us, due to the habits of our psychologized culture, to master the idea that in fact we operate with a distinction within the very consciousness of two types of phenomena: 1) phenomena that are controlled and deployed by consciousness and will (and in this sense, ideal-constructive), and 2) phenomena, although acting in consciousness itself, but implicit in relation to it and by them, uncontrolled (and in this sense, uncontrolled by the subject and generally subjectless). We emphasize-

Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev (February 5 (18), 1903, Moscow - January 21, 1979, ibid.) - Soviet psychologist, philosopher, teacher and organizer of science.

dealt with problems general psychology(evolutionary development of the psyche; memory, attention, personality, etc.) and the methodology of psychological research. Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences (1940), active member APS of the RSFSR (1950), first dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University.

Winner of the medal of K. D. Ushinsky (1953), Lenin Prize (1963), Lomonosov Prize of the 1st degree (1976), honorary doctor of the Paris and Budapest universities. Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Born into a family of bourgeois Leontiev. After graduating from the First Real School (more precisely, the “single labor school”), entered the Faculty of Social Sciences of Moscow State University, graduating in 1923 [source not specified 1286 days] or 1924. Among his teachers of that time: G. I. Chelpanov and G. G. Shpet. After graduating from the university, he was left at the Psychological Institute to prepare for a professorship, at which time the founder of the Institute, G. I. Chelpanov, was removed from the post of director. According to the recollections of his father cited by A. A. Leontiev, Chelpanov himself, who accepted Leontiev to “graduate school”, advised him to stay there after this shift. Among Leontiev's colleagues at the Institute during this period were N. A. Bernshtein, A. R. Luria, with whom several early studies were co-authored, P. P. Blonsky, and later L. S. Vygotsky.

Since 1925, A. N. Leontiev worked under the guidance of Vygotsky on cultural-historical theory, more specifically, on the problems of the cultural development of memory. A book reflecting these studies, The Development of Memory: An Experimental Study of Higher Psychological Functions, was published in 1931.

From the end of 1931 - head of the department in the psychology sector of the Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy (until 1932 - Ukrainian Psychoneurological Institute) in Kharkov.

1933-1938 - head of the department of the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute.

Since 1941 - as an employee of the Institute of Psychology - Professor of Moscow State University (since December 1941 in evacuation in Ashgabat).

1943 - was in charge of the scientific department in the rehabilitation hospital (p. Kourovka, Sverdlovsk region), from the end of 1943 - in Moscow.

Since 1951 - Head of the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University.

1966 - founds the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University and leads it for more than 12 years.

In 1976, a laboratory for the psychology of perception was opened, which still operates today.

Books (12)

Movement recovery

Psychophysiological study of the restoration of hand functions after injury.

The classic work of A.N. Leontiev and A.V. Zaporozhets, which summarizes the results of studies on the restoration of motor functions after injuries.

The study was conducted on the material of the clinical work of a team of psychologists (A.N. Leontiev, Zaporozhets, Galperin, Luria, M.S. Lebedinsky, Merlin, Gellerstein, S. Ya. Rubinshtein, Ginevskaya, etc.) during the Great Patriotic War. Since the first publication in 1945, the book has not been republished in Russian. Translated to English language and published in 1960 as Rehabilitation of Hand Function. London: Pergamon Press, 1960.

Activity. Consciousness. Personality

According to its composition, the book is divided into three parts. The first of them is formed by chapters I and II, devoted to an analysis of the concept of reflection and the general contribution that Marxism makes to scientific psychology. These chapters serve as an introduction to its central part, which deals with the problems of activity, consciousness and personality.
The last part of the book occupies a very special place: it is not a continuation of the previous chapters, but is one of the author's early works on the psychology of consciousness.

Selected psychological works. Volume 1

The volume contains works grouped into three thematic sections. The first section includes works of different years, reflecting the formation and development of the methodological foundations of modern Soviet psychology.

The second section includes two major works, which reveal the provisions on the emergence of mental reflection and its development in the process of phylogeny before the birth of human consciousness. The third section contains works devoted to the study of mental development in the process of ontogenesis.

Selected psychological works. Volume 2

The second volume of works is divided into two thematic sections. The section "Functioning of various forms of mental reflection" includes works devoted to the experimental study of various mental processes and functions of a person.

Lectures on General Psychology

Processed transcripts of a course of lectures on general psychology, read by A.N. Leontiev in 1973-75. at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. Published for the first time based on tape recordings and typewritten transcripts from the archive of A.N. Leontiev. Psychologists, students of psychological specialties.

Problems of the development of the psyche

The versatility and complexity of the problem of the development of the psyche requires that its development be carried out in many directions, in various plans and by various methods. The experimental and theoretical works published in this book express only one of the attempts to approach its solution.

The book contains three sections that cover the issues of the genesis and nature of sensations, the biological evolution of the psyche and its historical development, theories of the development of the child's psyche.

Psychological questions of consciousness of the doctrine

In the article “Psychological questions of the consciousness of teaching”, published in 1947 and then included in a revised form in the book “Activity. Consciousness. Personality”, A.N. Leontiev put forward a number of provisions that reveal their heuristic potential in a special way in the current, changed cultural and historical situation; they turn with their new, previously hidden facets.

Among these provisions is the proof that the problem of the consciousness of a doctrine should be considered primarily as a problem of the meaning that the knowledge acquired by him acquires for a person. For learning to be done consciously, it must have "life meaning" for the learner.

Memory development