From Evolution to Revolution: Vygotsky’s Contribution to Educational Theory
Dr Aline Nardo (University of Edinburgh and Visiting Scholar, Jesus College, Cambridge)

17:00-18:30

Vygotsky in Philosophy of Education – a mini-series
Co-convened by Dr Daniel Moulin and Dr Aline Nardo

In this talk, Dr Nardo explores Vygotsky’s contribution to educational theory. She introduces a close reading of his Marxist negation of Darwinian evolutionary theory to elucidate Vygotsky’s distinction between learning and development. Dr Nardo argues that by paying attention to Vygotsky’s particular understanding of evolution as a process marked by ‘leaps’ and ‘breaks’ – in contrast to, for example, Dewey’s concept of evolution as continuous ‘growth’ – a new and more nuanced reading of the widely popularised Vygotskian concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) emerges, shedding light on the significant and singular role of the teacher in development.