Problems of General Psychology: Including the Volume Thinking and Speech

Thinking and Speech argues that verbal thought is a developmental achievement with social origins, not a pre-existing entity. The word's meaning is a dynamic unity of thinking and speech, and consciousness is reflected in the word. This edition differs fundamentally from the 1962 Hanfmann-Vakar Thought and Language, which was an abridged and interpretative translation. The Collected Works editors and translator Norris Minick deliberately rendered the title as Thinking and Speech to signal a more faithful rendition. As Michael Cole noted in his review, even where the same words appear in both editions, there are many differences in terminology, and Minick's careful attention to intellectual context gives this translation an authority beyond mere completeness.

The Lectures on Psychology comprise six previously untranslated lectures covering perception, memory, thinking, emotions, imagination, and will—published here for the first time in English. They are significant because they show Vygotsky applying his cultural-historical framework systematically across the full range of psychological functions, not just language and thought. The lectures provide a developmental account of each function, demonstrating how higher mental processes are socially mediated and internalized. Together with Thinking and Speech, they reveal Vygotsky's ambition to construct a unified psychological theory rather than a collection of insights about isolated faculties.

Problems of General Psychology is Volume 1 of the English Collected Works but is actually Volume 2 of the Russian series. The Russian edition was published in Moscow by Pedagogika between 1982 and 1984, covering Vygotsky's work from 1924 until his death in 1934. The English volumes appeared from Plenum Press between 1987 and 1999. Volume 1 establishes the general psychological framework, while subsequent volumes apply it to defectology, the history of higher mental functions, child psychology, and scientific legacy materials. The volume includes an Afterword to the Russian Edition by A. R. Luria, Vygotsky's colleague and collaborator.

The volume was edited by Robert W. Rieber and Aaron S. Carton, with a prologue by Jerome Bruner and translation and introduction by Norris Minick. The most consequential decision was rendering Myshlenie i Rech' as Thinking and Speech rather than Thought and Language. As the publisher's description states, this was intentional, rejecting the abridged, interpretative character of the 1962 Hanfmann-Vakar translation. Michael Cole's review emphasized that Minick's translation choices, combined with his attention to the intellectual context, give this edition an authority that goes beyond completeness. The editorial apparatus includes notes to the Russian edition and the Luria afterword.

The 1962 Thought and Language was the first major Vygotsky work available in English and introduced him to Western psychology. However, it was abridged and interpretative, and its title choice—Thought and Language rather than Thinking and Speech—framed Vygotsky's project as a contribution to the thought-language debate rather than as a theory of consciousness rooted in social mediation. This Collected Works edition restores the complete text and corrects the framing. As Cole observed, the importance of how Vygotsky's ideas are translated gives this edition an authority that goes well beyond its completeness, enabling more accurate scholarly engagement with his actual arguments.

Thinking and Speech includes extended critical engagements with Piaget's theory of egocentric speech and Stern's theory of speech development. Vygotsky rejects Piaget's interpretation of egocentric speech as evidence of cognitive immaturity, arguing instead that it is transitional speech moving from external social speech toward inner speech and serving a self-guidance function. He critiques Stern's theory for treating speech development as arising from the child's inner life rather than from social interaction. These chapters show Vygotsky constructing his position through polemical engagement with the dominant developmental theories of his time, a method that characterizes his broader approach.