Scientific, spontaneous and everyday concepts

In order to evaluate and reflect on Vygotsky's discussion about the development of scientific concepts (1987), especially in relation to his interpretation of Piaget's theory, it is necessary to clarify and untangle some of the key terms he introduces, in particular, the terms ‘scientific’, ‘everyday’ and ‘spontaneous’ concepts. Vygotsky's choice of the term ‘scientific’ to designate a particular kind of concept is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most fundamental problem is that in using this term he does not mean what is commonly referred to as science in the sense of the natural sciences. For example, one of the main concepts he uses as an illustration of a scientific concept is the Marxist social scientific concept of ‘exploitation’. In distinguishing scientific concepts from other kinds of concepts, it is not the content of the concept that is targeted but its method of acquisition and its relationship to other cognate concepts. In Vygotsky's terminology, scientific concepts have two distinguishing features. The first is that they are not the product of the ‘operations of the child's own thought’ (p. 173) but arise in the process of formal instruction such as occurs in the school classroom. The second is that they are always embedded in systems and derive their meaning from the relationships that obtain between the various concepts that constitute their meanings. Although Vygotsky does not elaborate, it appears that these two features are both necessary.