Vygotsky: A Marxist analysis of the crisis in psychology.

The article focuses on Lev Vygotsky's analysis of the crisis in psychology as a key methodological milestone in the development of his cultural-historical theory, emphasizing the significance of the Marxist dialectical method in this analysis. It explores how Vygotsky critiqued the fragmentation of psychology into competing schools and the limitations of positivist and idealist approaches, advocating instead for a Marxist-informed, dialectical, and historically grounded methodology that integrates scientific rigor with social and ideological awareness. Vygotsky argued for the necessity of a general psychology to unify diverse psychological fields and stressed praxis—the practical application and testing of theory—as the criterion of truth. The article also highlights Vygotsky's insistence that Marxism should critically incorporate existing psychological knowledge rather than reject it, positioning his work as a creative extension of Marxist thought within psychology.