Abstract

This chapter concentrates on the philosophic tradition informing Vygotsky's work. Its aim is to make explicit in Vygotsky's work what many commentaries leave unsaid: namely, that it has a definite philosophic provenance that conditions and shapes its arguments. Comparisons of Vygotsky and Piaget are commonly made from the point of view of psychology, but attention in the chapter is directed to the less well‐aired, but no less important, philosophic differences between them. The chapter puts these differences in context by considering parts of the philosophy of Hegel and Spinoza that are relevant for Vygotsky's conception of mind and world and its differences from that of Piaget. It underlines how Vygotsky's criticism of Piaget brings to light the differences of philosophic approach employed.