Abstract
Based on new evidence, I explore the likelihood that Vygotsky, who Toulmin refers to as the “Mozart of Psychology,” met and exchanged views with John Dewey, the great American philosopher, during the latter's landmark trip to Russia in the summer of 1928. I also discuss a second kind of meeting that occurred around this time, a meeting of the minds between these two great scholars, unmistakably evident in Dewey's writings from 1925 on and in Vygotsky's writings toward the end of his life. The social and political context surrounding these two events, ironically enough, has not been adequately dealt with to date. A careful examination of the events leading up to and following the two hypothesized meetings calls into question a number of assumptions about Vygotsky's life and work—including Luria's popular, Cinderella-like account of how he came to the attention of the intellectual elite in Moscow.
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