Vadim M. Rozin

The development of L.S. Vygotsky's ideas from his first work "Psychology of art" to such a mature work as "Thinking and speech" is considered. The last work is analyzed to reveal the specificity of Vygotsky's approach to thinking examination. The Vygotsky's position is characterized as contradictory: (1) Thinking is reduced to meaning of speech or to the system of concepts or argumentations: (2) The development is interpreted at one moment as biological essence at another as semiotic or activity essences. These contradictions are described as the result of conflict among the methodological dispositions of L.S. Vygotsky (natural science and Marxian approaches), experimental observations and views of other scientists. The viewpoint of L.S. Vygotsky on the problem of thinking is coordinated with the contemporary logical and semiotic conceptions.