HETEROGENEITY OF THINKING: DIFFERENT WAYS OF SOLVING CONTRADICTIONS

Back to Page Authors: Alisa Rekunova

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Keywords: cultural-historical psychology, heterogeneity of thinking, contradictions, concepts

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Abstract: According to Lev Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, thinking goes through three stages: syncretic concepts, complexes, and true concepts; however, concepts of different stages are able to coexist simultaneously in the human mind, which means that the mind is heterogeneous. Aaro Toomela suggested that religious concepts tend to form on the stage of complexes. The study has aimed to distinguish different stages of concepts in the human mind by examining the words the person uses and to analyse contradictions between religious and scientific concepts. To achieve these aims, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 17 people from different areas and backgrounds. The results of the study suggest that there are three main approaches to contradictory areas of life: denying contradictions, ignoring contradictions, and accepting contradictions.

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