Based on the concepts of “activity” and the “ideal,” Ilyenkov's critique of epistemology follows the Marxian conceptualization of knowledge as the product of the metabolic relation between human and social nature. Accordingly, one specificity of the human being is her “object-oriented activity,” which in essence means changing the world. Ilyenkov criticizes views that reduce knowledge to a system of propositions. This conceptualization of knowledge produces not critical thinkers but automatons, and is determined by the logic and needs of capital. “Critical pedagogy,” e.g., that of Paulo Freire, fails to provide a genuine alternative to capitalist education, as it considers knowledge a mental entity, ignoring the fact that the education system is an integral part of capitalist relations of production. Communist reorganization of the education system should aim at providing every individual with access to the totality of human cultural wealth, artefacts, and means, along with the capability to deploy them.
AzeriSiyaves. 2013. “Conceptual Cognitive Organs: Toward an Historical Materialist Theory of Scientific Knowledge.” Philosophia: Philosophical Quarterly of Israel, 41:4, 1095–1123.
2.
AzeriSiyaves. 2017. “The Historical Possibility and Necessity of (Ilyenkov's) Anti-Innatism.” Theory and Psychology, 27:5, 583–597.
3.
DaleJohn, and Hyslop-MargisonEmery J.2010. Paulo Freire: Teaching for Freedom and Transformation. New York: Springer.
4.
DubrovskiiDavid I.1969. “Brain and Mind.” Studies in Soviet Philosophy, 67–85.
5.
FreirePaulo. 2001. Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civil Courage. Transl. ClarkeP.Oxford, UK: Roman & Littlefield.
6.
FreirePaulo. 2005. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Transl. RamosM. B.New York /London: Continuum.
7.
HegelGeorge Wilhelm Friedrich. 2004. Phenomenology of Spirit. Transl. MillerA. V. Oxford, UK/New York: Oxford University Press.
8.
IlyenkovEvald. 1969. “Mind and Brain.” Soviet Studies in Philosophy, 87–106.
9.
IlyenkovEvald. 1982. The Dialectics of the Abstract and the Concrete in Marx'sCapital. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
10.
IlyenkovEvald. 2007a. “A Contribution on the Question of the Concept of ‘Activity’ and Its Significance for Pedagogy.” Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 45:4, 69–74.
11.
IlyenkovEvald. 2007b. “The Biological and the Social in Man.” Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 45:4, 64–68.
12.
IlyenkovEvald. 2007c. “Our Schools Must Teach How to Think!” Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 45:4, 9–49.
13.
IlyenkovEvald. 2012. “Dialectics of the Ideal.” Historical Materialism, 20:2, 149–193.
14.
IlyenkovEvald, and ValentinKorovikov. 2016. “Theses on Philosophy.” in David, Bakhurst, “Punks Versus Zombies: Evald Ilyenkov and the Battle for Soviet Philosophy.” Paper presented at the Max Planck Institute für Wissenschafts-Geschichte, Berlin, Germany.
15.
MarxKarl. 1975a. Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law. In MECW, Vol. 3, 3–129.
16.
MarxKarl. 1975b. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. In MECW, Vol. 3, 229–346.
17.
MarxKarl. 1976a. Theses on Feuerbach. In MECW, Vol. 5, 3–5.
18.
MarxKarl. 1976b. The German Ideology. In MECWVol. 5, 19–452.
19.
MarxKarl. 1992. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Vol. I. Transl. B. Fowkes. London: Penguin Books.
MeshcheryakovAlexander. 1979. Awakening to Life. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
22.
RikowskiGlenn. 2001a. “Fuel for the Living Fire: Labour-Power.” In DinersteinA. C. and NearyM., eds., The Labour Debate: An Investigation into the Theory and Reality of Capitalist Work. Aldershot: Ashgate.
RobertsPeter. 2000. Education, Literacy, and Humanization: Exploring the Work of Paulo Freire. London: Bergin & Garvey.
27.
VirkkunenJakko, ElisaMakinen, and LeilaLintula. 2010. “From Diagnosis to Clients: Constructing the Object of Collaborative Development Between Physiotherapy Educators and Work Places.” Pp. 9–24 in HarryDaniels, , eds., Activity Theory in Practice: Promoting Learning Across Boundaries and Agencies. London: Routledge.
28.
WarmingtonPaul, and JaneLeadbetter. 2010. “Expansive Learning, Expansive Labour: Conceptualizing the Social Production of Labour-power within Multi-Agency Working.” Pp. 72–89 in HarryDaniels, ., eds., Activity Theory in Practice: Promoting Learning Across Boundaries and Agencies. London: Routledge.
