Rozin V.M. Analysis of the Art Form as a Condition of Reconstruction of Aesthetic Experience (Re-reading "Psychology of Art" by Lev Vygotsky)

Abstract: In his article Rozin examines the first great work by Lev Vygotsky in which the founder of Soviet psychology stated that it is possible to reach to aesthetic (artistic) experience only indirectly, in particular, through the analysis of the art form. Rozin analyzes the methodological approaches which he used in his research (naturalistic and structuralistic) and interprets an art form as some kind of a trap that catches a reader or audience trying to overcome contradictions of building an art form. The author compares Lev Vygotsky's concept of 'art as the machine for developing psyche' with Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of 'life in art'. In his research Rozin has used the methodology of comparative analysis, raises a number of questions and offers a new reconstruction of 'Psychology of Art' as well as discusses peculiarities of psychological research and science. As a result, the author demonstrates that Vygotsky's concept of art was in many ways conditioned by Marxist and structuralistic methodologies as well as the task to develop a new human using artistic means. Being focused on the problem of human development, Vygotsky interpreted art as the machine for developing the mental world and ignored the importance of art as a life style.     

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