A dialogical conception of concepts

Abstract

Classical psychology and philosophy have conceived of thinking as being intimately related to concepts. According to predominant psychological theories, concepts are the building blocks of propositional thought. Although important authors such as William James and Lev Vygotsky offered alternative accounts of concepts, they have been largely ignored. This is particularly surprising in the case of sociocultural theories, which have not elaborated further on this important aspect of psychological life. This article seeks to explore these alternative theorizations on concepts in order to contribute to an understanding of concepts as processes that unfold through speech according to social dynamics. We also discuss some aspects of the theory of discourse of Bakhtin and Vološinov, in order to study the implications of a dialogical theory for the conception of concepts. We propose to conceive concepts as generic generalization processes that unfold through discourse in response to others’ generalizations.