Aleksei Nikolayevich Leontiev ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Лео́нтьев, p=lʲɪˈonʲtʲjɪf; February 18, 1903 – January 21, 1979), was a Soviet Russian developmental psychologist and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and a founder of

activity theory Activity theory (AT; ) is an umbrella term for a line of eclectic social-sciences theories and research with its roots in the Soviet psychological activity theory pioneered by Sergei Rubinstein in the 1930s. It was later advocated for and popula ...

. He was born and died in Moscow.

Biography

Aleksei Leontiev's life was closely linked to the

Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

(MGU). In 1921, he began his studies at the historical-philological faculty of the university. The historical-philological faculty, at the time, included a Department of Philosophy at which Georgy Chelpanov was teaching psychology, and Leontiev studied psychology with him. In 1924, Leontiev graduated from what became the Faculty of Social Sciences. Leontiev worked with

Lev Vygotsky Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (, ; ; – June 11, 1934) was a Russian and Soviet psychologist, best known for his work on psychological development in children and creating the framework known as cultural-historical activity theory. After his ear ...

and

Alexander Luria Alexander Romanovich Luria (; , ; 16 July 1902 – 14 August 1977) was a Soviet neuropsychology, neuropsychologist, often credited as a father of modern neuropsychology. He developed an extensive and original battery of neuropsychological ...

from 1924 to 1930, collaborating on the development of Marxist psychology as a response to behaviorism and the focus on the stimulus-response mechanism as an explanation for human behavior. Leontiev left Vygotsky's group in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1931, to take up a position in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. He continued to work with Vygotsky for some time but, eventually, there was a split, although they continued to communicate with one another on scientific matters (van der Veer and Valsiner, 1991). Leontiev returned to Moscow in 1934. Later, he became the Head of the Psychology Department at the Faculty of Philosophy of

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. In 1966, Leontiev became the first ever Dean of the newly established Faculty of Psychology at the Moscow State University, where he worked until his death in 1979.

Scientific work

Leontiev's early scientific work was done in the framework of Vygotsky's cultural-historical research program and focused on the exploration of the phenomenon of cultural mediation. Representative of this period is Leontiev's study on mediated memory in children and adults ''The development of higher forms of memory'', 1931. Leontiev's own research school is based on a thorough psychological analysis of the phenomenon of activity. Systematic development of the psychological foundations of

was started in the 1930s by Kharkiv group of psychologists headed by Leontiev and included such researchers as

Zaporozhets ZAZ Zaporozhets ( ) was a series of rear-wheel-drive superminis (city cars in their first generation) designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine. Different models of the Zaporozhets, all of which had an air-cooled engi ...

, Galperin, Zinchenko, Bozhovich, Asnin, Lukov, etc. In its fullest form, activity theory was subsequently developed and institutionalized as the leading psychological doctrine in the Soviet Union in the post-war period after Leontiev had moved to Moscow and took a position at the

. For Leontiev, the psychological macrostructure of 'activity' consisted of those processes "that realize a person's actual life in the objective world by which he is surrounded, his social being in all the richness and variety of its forms" (Leontiev 1977). The core of Leontiev's work is the proposal that we can examine human processes from the perspective of their psychological macrostructure in three interrelated units. The stimulating unit is that of ''activity'' and ''motives'' that drive it. The behavior-orientation unit is that of ''actions'' and their associated ''goals'', and the conditional unit is the analysis of ''operations'' that serve as ''means'' for the achievement of actions goals.

Works

In English * Problems of the Development of the Mind, 1959 (1st ed.), 1965 (2nd ed.), 1972 (3rd ed.), 1981 (4th ed.); translated in English in 1981:
''The problem of the origin of sensation''
(pp. 7–53). In Problems of the Development of the Mind. (Trans. M. Kopylova) Moscow: Progress Publishers

(pp. 156–326). Problems of the Development of the Mind. (Trans. M. Kopylova) Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Alexei Leont'ev archive @ marxists.org.uk

1977

1978
The Development of Mind
1981 In Russian * Леонтьев А.Н. (1947)

* Леонтьев А.Н. (1977)

( ttp://lib.ru/PSIHO/LEONTIEV/dsl.txt ''idem'' * Леонтьев А.Н. (2000)
Лекции по общей психологии
* Леонтьев А. Н. (1978)
Воля
* Леонтьев А. Н. (1986)

References

External links

In English * Wertsch, J. V. The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology. Sharpe, 1981. * Van der Veer, R., and Valsiner, J. Understanding Vygotsky: a quest for synthesis. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991. * Leontiev, A. A. The Life and Creative Path of A.N. Leontiev. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, May/Jun2005, Vol. 43 Issue 3, p8-69, * Leontiev, A.N., The Development of Mind, a reproduction of the Progress Publishers 1981 edition, plus "Activity and Consciousness," originally published by Progress Publishers, 1977, published by Erythrospress, se
Erythrospress.com
* Yasnitsky, A. (2011)
Vygotsky Circle as a Personal Network of Scholars: Restoring Connections Between People and Ideas
Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, . In Russian * Short bio @ th

* Bio

* Леонтьев А.А
Жизненный и творческий путь А.Н.Леонтьева
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leontiev, Aleksei Leont'ev Leont'ev 20th-century Russian philosophers Leont'ev, Alexei Nikolaevich Leont'ev, Alexei Nikolaevich Leont'ev, Aleksey Academicians of the RSFSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences Academicians of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Cognitive scientists Leont'ev, Alexei Nikolaevich Soviet Marxists Soviet philosophers Leont'ev, Alexei Nikolaevich Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery Russian scientists

Biography

Scientific work

Works

See also

References

External links