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El año 1957 marca la fecha de las primeras publicaciones de investigación de Georgy Petrovich
sobre temas de pensamiento y actividad de pensamiento. Durante el mismo período, la revista
'Informes de la Academia de Estudios Pedagógicos de la Federación Rusa' publicó un
programa para la investigación interdisciplinaria del pensamiento y la actividad, que desarrolló
junto con N. G. Alexeyev y I. S. Ladenko. Este programa sigue siendo fundamental hoy en día
en varios tipos de investigación.
Desde octubre de 1960 hasta agosto de 1965, fue investigador junior en el Laboratorio de
Psicología y Psicofisiología del Instituto de Investigación de Educación Preescolar de la
Academia de Ciencias Pedagógicas de la Federación Rusa. G. P. Shchedrovitsky estudió el
desarrollo intelectual de los niños en edad preescolar, los temas del juego de los niños y su
papel en el desarrollo de una "sociedad de niños", el desarrollo de los niños en edad preescolar
y primaria en las condiciones de enseñanza, y el análisis y la tipología del aprendizaje y la
enseñanza. Los principales temas de investigación en ese período fueron: Estudio del proceso
de pensamiento de un niño para resolver problemas aritméticos (trabajos publicados de 1960,
1961, 1964, 1965, 1974); La Metodología del Estudio Pedagógico del Juego.(1963, 1964, 1966,
1973); La interconexión de la educación y el desarrollo desde el punto de vista de los sistemas
de actividad (1966, 1968, 1974). Durante este mismo período, Shchedrovitsky junto con B. V.
Sazonov, V. M. Rozin, N. I. Nyepomnyashchaya, N. G. Alexeyev y A. S. Moskayeva trabajaron
en un volumen fundamental de Pedagogía y lógica que reflejaba la dirección básica de la
investigación dentro de los límites de la lógica genética contentiva y la teoría de actividad.
A partir de 1960, G. P. Shchedrovitsky dedicó gran parte de su tiempo a los temas del habla y
el lenguaje que describen un programa para semióticas de sistemas de actividad. Los
principales temas de investigación de ese período son: Método de estudio semiótico de
sistemas de signos (publicaciones de 1963–67), « Natural» y «Artificial» de sistemas
semióticos (1965–1967), y En los principales enfoques en el estudio de Signos y sistemas de
signos (1964–1967).
Como resultado, Georgy Petrovich estaba sin trabajo y, en última instancia, sin ningún tipo de
apoyo. En ese momento era poco probable que alguien ofreciera un puesto a un candidato de
filosofía que había sido expulsado del PCUS. Sin embargo, alguien hizo precisamente eso. En
abril de 1969, G. P. Shchedrovitsky fue contratado como miembro del personal del Taller
Central de Educación y Experimentación de la Unión de Artistas de la URSS, primero como
consejero vocacional y luego como jefe del Laboratorio de Metodología de la Enseñanza.
Los trabajos básicos de ese período incluyen Sentido y significado en la estructura del
signo (publicaciones de 1969, 1970, 1971 y 1974), Los problemas del desarrollo histórico del
pensamiento (1973, 1974 y 1975) y El Movimiento de investigación de sistemas y La
perspectiva del desarrollo de la metodología sistémica y estructural(1974, 1979, 1981 y
1985). Este es también el período en el que se intentó realizar una investigación importante
sobre la base de la teoría general de la actividad, los procesos reflexivos y su papel en el
desarrollo de la actividad, junto con un análisis más detallado de los procesos de
comunicación. Esta rama de la investigación está representada en las siguientes
publicaciones: Significados y conocimiento (1971), Comunicación, Actividad,
Reflexión.(1975), Sentido y comprensión (1977).
El interés de los administradores deportivos en la metodología estuvo bien justificado por los
próximos Juegos Olímpicos de Moscú de 1980. A partir de 1974, Georgy Petrovich participó en
el Consejo de Investigación del Comité de Deportes de la URSS y dirigió la Comisión de
Investigación y Desarrollo Estructurales y Sistémicos en Cultura Física y Deportes. En tres
años, la Comisión celebró cinco Conferencias de toda la Unión sobre el análisis de los sistemas
de actividad de la cultura física y las cuestiones deportivas. En este momento, él y LN Zhdanov
realizaron un Seminario científico y metodológico sobre cultura física y temas deportivos en el
Colegio estatal de cultura física de Moscú (desde 1976) e implementaron un programa
interdisciplinario de investigación científica y metodológica durante la pasantía profesional y la
capacitación de estudiantes. (desde 1979) establecido por el Ministerio de Educación Superior
de la URSS.
Durante este período, cuestiones como las formas de organizar el pensamiento y la actividad
colectiva; la estructura organizativa, social y psicológica de los equipos colectivos, grupos y
comunicación en equipo; Y las relaciones interdisciplinarias ganaron protagonismo en su
investigación. Los principales resultados de este trabajo se explican mediante los siguientes
textos: Sobre los aspectos principales de la investigación sociológica en la cultura física y el
deporte como esfera de actividad (1977), Sobre los temas principales y las orientaciones de la
investigación científica y metodológica en la esfera de Deportes (1977), Organización
Interdisciplinaria de Investigación Científica como Sistema Social y Técnico (1979), y otros.
En 1979, Georgy Petrovich comenzó su investigación sobre el tema Análisis de las técnicas
para resolver problemas complicados y tareas con información incompleta y acción
colectiva . Esta investigación dio lugar al desarrollo de una nueva forma de organizar el
pensamiento y la actividad colectivos, con el objetivo de resolver problemas interdisciplinarios,
industriales, científicos, tecnológicos y de gestión complicados, que se conocieron como
Juegos de organización de actividades (AOG). Durante 1979–91, G. P. Shchedrovitsky realizó
más de 90 AOG y todos ellos proporcionaron datos para su estudio y sirvieron como un medio
para realizar más investigaciones sobre el pensamiento, la comprensión y la reflexión. Así, en
1983, Shchedrovitsky y sus coautores prepararon los siguientes trabajos bajo el tema de
investigación de Perspectivas y formas de automatizar los sistemas de pensamiento-
actividad: Análisis de la situación y un análisis de situaciones , esquemas y signos en el
pensamiento y la actividad , esquemas en el pensamiento y signos en la comunicación ,
y esquemas operativos para los juegos de organización de actividades .
En total, Georgy Petrovich es autor de más de 150 obras publicadas, incluidas publicaciones en
los Estados Unidos, Gran Bretaña, Alemania, Bulgaria y otros países. Y esto es solo una
pequeña parte de sus escritos durante 40 años de intenso trabajo, incesantes meditaciones,
discusiones y discursos con colegas, amigos y alumnos.
Sus últimos años coincidieron con el período de perestroika que ayudó a introducir la
metodología en la sociedad. En la estructura de la Unión de Sociedades Científicas y de
Ingeniería de la URSS, G. P. Shchedrovitsky formó el Comité sobre Metodología de los
Sistemas de Actividad de Pensamiento y los Juegos de Organización de Actividades. Не
organizó y llevó a cabo cinco convenios de toda la Unión metodológicas (en Kiev, Samara y
Moscú), el último de los cuales se celebra el 40 º aniversario de la metodológica Círculo de
Moscú.
Este texto fue preparado por G. A. Davydova en 1994 a partir de documentos autobiográficos
de G. P. Shchedrovitsky.
Traducido del ruso por M. V. Oborina, Cand. Carolina del Sur. (Filología)
Georgy Shchedrovitsky
Biography
Georgy Petrovich Shchedrovitsky was born in Moscow on February 23, 1929. His father, Pyotr
Georgievich, a graduate of the Moscow Higher Technical School, worked in the aviation
industry. His mother, Kapitolina Nikolayevna, worked as a physician after graduating from the
First Moscow Medical College.
The year 1957 marks the date of Georgy Petrovich’s first research publications on issues of
thought and thinking activity. During the same period the journal ‘Reports of the Academy of
Pedagogical Studies of the Russian Federation’ published a programme for interdisciplinary
research of thought and activity, which he developed together with N. G. Alexeyev and
I. S. Ladenko. This programme is still instrumental today in various types of research.
Seminars played a very important role in Georgy Petrovich’s research and teaching, as they
allowed for the greater involvement of his students and young colleagues in his research
programmes. In 1955, he conducted a methodological seminar and started a seminar for the
interdisciplinary systemic study of thought at the Chair of Logic of the MSU Philosophy
Department. In March 1958 under the auspices of the All-Union Psychologists Society, Georgy
Petrovich formed a Commission for The Study of The Psychology of Thought and Logic (jointly
with V. V. Davydov and with the support of Prof. P. A. Shevaryov), the activities of which he
promoted until his death. In 1962 he and his colleagues, V. N. Sadovsky and E. G. Yudin, set
up the Interdisciplinary Seminar on Structural and Systemic Methods of Analysis in Science and
Technology at the Commission on Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (or,
Scientific Board on interdisciplinary problem ‘Cybernetcs’ at the Præsidium of the Academy
headed by A. I. Berg). Georgy Petrovich led the Seminar through 1976. The seminar
discussions resulted in a collection of papers Problems of Research in Systems and
Structures (1965) and a monograph by G. P. Shchedrovitsky, Methodological Problems of
Systems Research (1964).
Starting from April 1958, Georgy Petrovich worked at the Publishing House of the Academy of
the Pedagogical Sciences of the Russian Federation. Initially, in the editorial office of the
Pedagogical Dictionary he supervised the sections of psychology, physiology and vocational
education. Later, in the editorial office of pedagogy he edited works by N. K. Krupskaya,
P. P. Blonsky, and books on the theory and history of pedagogy. During the same period he
worked as an editor for the journal, Psychological Issues.
During this period he focused on such research problems as the structural and systemic
analysis of knowledge and thinking activity; the status and limits of logical and prescriptive
methods of analysis of thought in their relation to psychological as well as psychological-
pedagogical studies of thought.
From October 1960 to August 1965, he was a junior researcher at the Laboratory of Psychology
and Psychophysiology at the Research Institute of Preschool Education of the Academy of
Pedagogical Sciences of the Russian Federation. G. P. Shchedrovitsky studied the intellectual
development of preschool children, the issues of children’s play and its role in the development
of a ‘children’s society,’ the development of preschool and primary school children under
teaching conditions, and the analysis and typology of learning and teaching. The primary topics
of research at that period were: Study of A Child’s Thought Process in Solving Arithmetic
Problems (published works of 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1974); The Methodology of the
Pedagogical Study of Play (1963, 1964, 1966, 1973); The Interconnection of Education and
Development from the Systems-of-Activity Viewpoint (1966, 1968, 1974). During this same
period, Shchedrovitsky together with B. V. Sazonov, V. M. Rozin, N. I. Nyepomnyashchaya,
N. G. Alexeyev, and A. S. Moskayeva worked on a fundamental volume of Pedagogics and
Logic which reflected the basic direction of research within the limits of contensive genetic logic
and the theory of activity.
Starting in 1960, G. P. Shchedrovitsky devoted much of his time to the issues of speech and
language outlining a programme for systems-of-activity semiotics. The primary research topics
of that period are: On Method of Semiotic Study of Sign Systems (publications of 1963–67),
‘Natural’ and ‘Artificial’ of Semiotic Systems (1965–1967), and On the Main Approaches in the
Study of Signs and Sign Systems (1964–1967).
At the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics at the State Committee on
Science and Technology of the USSR (August 1965 through March 1969) G. P. Shchedrovitsky
was a senior researcher and headed the Research Team for Design Methodology. His research
during this time was focused on the basic concepts of the theory of activity, specific features of
design thought and design activity, and methods of historical and critical analysis. The results of
this period are presented in such works as Designing in a System of Total Design (1965–1967)
and Designer’s Thought (1966–1969). Simultaneously he attempted to transfer the ideas about
the sphere of activity (developed for design) into the realm of pedagogy and linguistics. These
attempts are reflected in such works as System of Pedagogical Research (publications of 1966
and 1970) and The Methodological Value of the Problem of Linguistic Universals (1966 and
1969). At the same time the sociological approaches to the study of activity and thought were
being developed and elaborated with issues of organisation, direction, and management coming
to the foreground. This initiated the study of the scientific and technological movements in
design, systems research, organisation and management, etc.
In February 1968 Moscow was the scene of a show trial against A. I. Ginzburg and
Yu. T. Galanskov. The latter had attended the school where Georgy Petrovich taught at one
time. This coincidence might have been the reason Shchedrovitsky signed a collective protest
letter drafted by cultural leaders and academicians who supported the accused. The letter was
addressed to the CPSU and government leadership. In July and August of the same year
G. P. Shchedrovitsky was expelled from the CPSU (which he had joined in 1956) by the district
and Moscow city committees of the CPSU for ‘actions aimed at the detriment of the party and
the state.’ Plans to publish the book Pedagogics and Logic were cancelled (it was finally
published and gained widespread circulation in 1993).
Nevertheless, until March 1969 when he was abruptly dismissed through staff reductions,
Georgy Petrovich continued to work at the Department of Design Theory and Methodology at
the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics, where he was in charge of
the preparation of the collective monograph Methodological Problems of Design Theory.
The immediate cause of the dismissal was the Remark, published by ‘Pravda’ newspaper and
signed by its then Deputy Editor-in-Chief V. G. Afanasyev, which referred to the article Scientific
Data Or Self-Deception? by G. P. Shchedrovitsky in ‘Literaturnaya Gazeta’. The article (named
as such by the editorial board) claimed that no data provided by sociological surveys can be
regarded as scientifically correct until sociology formed its scientific subject.
As a result Georgy Petrovich was out of work and ultimately without any means of support. At
that time it was unlikely that anyone would offer a position to a candidate of philosophy who had
been expelled from the CPSU. However, someone did just that. In April 1969,
G. P. Shchedrovitsky was hired as a staff member of the Central Educational and Experimental
Workshop of the Union of Artists of the USSR, first as a guidance counsellor and later as head
of the Laboratory of Teaching Methodology.
Throughout the whole period and notwithstanding the ‘circumstances’ Georgy Petrovich
continued researching the problems of semiotics and the theory of understanding
(hermeneutics); studied the specific features of design, planning, and programming thought;
and analysed the prospects for the development of methodological thought and methodology,
specific forms of methods and methodological work, while using every chance to publish the
results of his research as well as the results of the collective work he was part of.
The basic works of that period include Sense and Meaning in the Structure of Sign (publications
of 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1974), The Issues of the Historical Development of Thought (1973,
1974, and 1975), and The Systems Research Movement and the Prospect of the Development
of Systemic and Structural Methodology (1974, 1979, 1981, and 1985). This is also the period
when major research into the basis of the general theory of activity, reflexive processes and
their role in activity development was attempted along with a more detailed analysis of the
processes of communication. This branch of research is represented in the following
publications: Meanings and Knowledge (1971), Communication, Activity,
Reflexion (1975), Sense and Understanding (1977).
The year 1975 marked the publication of a collective monograph (by A. G. Rappaport,
O. I. Genisaretsky, B. V. Sazonov, and others): Development and Implementation of Automated
Systems in Design. Theory and Methodology. Georgy Petrovich authored the section Basic
Notions and Categoric Means of the Theory of Activity, where he accommodated the main ideas
of the theory of activity and the systems approach.
In October 1974, G. P. Shchedrovitsky transferred to the Moscow Regional State College of
Physical Culture as a senior lecturer of the Pedagogical faculty. He lectured on pedagogy and
the history of pedagogy, introduction to specialities, and read courses in methodology of
pedagogical research in the sphere of sports and methodology of designing systems of sports
training, as well as special courses in the social and psychological structure of sports teams.
From 1975 he focused his research on the topic of Methodological Recommendations for
Designing a Year-Long Cycle of Training (Content and Models for Organising Classes for
Olympic Alternate Team Coaches).
The sports administrators’ interest in methodology was well justified by the approaching
Moscow Olympic Games of 1980. Starting in 1974, Georgy Petrovich served on the Research
Council of the Sports Committee of the USSR and headed the Commission for Structural and
Systemic R&D in Physical Culture and Sports. In three years, the Commission held five All-
Union Conferences on the systems-of-activity analysis of physical culture and sports issues. At
this time, he and L. N. Zhdanov conducted a Scientific and Methodological Seminar on Physical
Culture and Sports Issues at the Moscow Regional State College of Physical Culture (from
1976) and implemented an interdisciplinary scientific and methodological research programme
during the professional internship and training of students (from 1979) set up by the Ministry of
Higher Education of the USSR.
During this period such issues as the forms of organising collective thought and activity; the
organisational, social and psychological structure of collective teams, groups and team
communication; and interdisciplinary relations gained prominence in his research. The main
results of this work are elucidated by the following texts: On the Main Aspects of Sociological
Research in Physical Culture and Sports as a Sphere of Activity (1977), On the Main Issues and
Directions of the Scientific and Methodological Research in the Sphere of
Sports (1977), Interdisciplinary Organisation of Scientific Research as a Social and Technical
System (1979), and others.
In 1979, Georgy Petrovich began his research on the topic of An Analysis of the Techniques of
Solving Complicated Problems and Tasks with Incomplete Information and Collective Action.
This research gave rise to the development of a new way to organise collective thought and
activity, aimed to solve complicated interdisciplinary, industrial, scientific and technological and
managerial problems which became known as Activity Organising Games (AOG). Through
1979–91 G. P. Shchedrovitsky conducted over 90 AOGs and all of them provided data for his
study and served as a means for further research in thought, understanding and reflexion. Thus,
in 1983 Shchedrovitsky and his co-authors prepared the following works under the research
topic of Prospects and Ways to Automate Systems of Thought-Activity: Situational Analysis and
an Analysis of Situations, Schemes and Signs in Thought and Activity, Schemes in Thought and
Signs in Communication, and Operating Schemes for Activity Organising Games.
During that period his research focused on the subject of the Rank of Complexity in Design and
Surveys and The Typology of Situations in Design and Surveys. Georgy Petrovich also
conducted an inter-university seminar in systems approach in geology at Moscow’s Gubkin
Institute of the Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industries.
His next posting found G. P. Shchedrovitsky at the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of the
Theory of Architecture and Urban Development where he headed the Laboratory of
Management in Design and Construction (December 1988 through April 1992). At this time he
was able to restore his former line of projects and programmes.
Georgy Petrovich’s last position was at the International Academy of Business and Banking
(now Togliatti Academy of Management) where he worked from April 1992 to January 1994. At
the Academy he guided a group of his young colleagues who had founded the Network of
Methodological Laboratories to design a modern system of education and methodological
training and started the project implementation.
In total, Georgy Petrovich authored more than 150 published works, including publications in the
United States, Great Britain, Germany, Bulgaria, and other countries. And this is but a small part
of his writings over 40 years of intense work, incessant meditations, discussions and discourse
with colleagues, friends and pupils.
His last years coincided with the period of perestroika which helped to introduce methodology to
society. In the structure of the Union of Scientific and Engineering Societies of the USSR,
G. P. Shchedrovitsky formed the Committee on Methodology of Thought-Activity Systems and
Activity Organising Games. Не arranged and conducted five All-Union Methodological
Conventions (in Kiev, Samara and Moscow), the last of which celebrated the 40 th anniversary of
the Moscow Methodological Circle.