Meaning, personal meaning and subjective meaning: evolution and differentiation of these categories in the historical - cultural theory.

Abstract

This paper discusses one of the central categories of the last period of the Vygotsky’s work: the sense. It is analyzed the progressive and fast development of this category in his last works, as well as its consequences in terms of what it represents as a possible new unity of analysis of psyche. Moreover it is discussed some of the reasons by which this category did not find an space in the Soviet Psychology, as well as the differences between sense and category of personal sense proposed by A. N. Leontiev. The use of the category of sense has progressively extended in the psychological literature in the last time and a discussion about the concept and its origins is in urgent need of theoretical elaboration in order to avoid the triviality of the concept. Starting from the concept of sense in Vygotsky I propose the concept of subjective sense as the cornerstone for the study of subjectivity from a cultural – historical approach.