Theoretical justification for legal clinical education for United States and China: Drawing inspiration from l. S. Vygotsky

Vertsman, Konstantin Grigoryevich

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Description

Title

Theoretical justification for legal clinical education for United States and China: Drawing inspiration from l. S. Vygotsky

Author(s)

Vertsman, Konstantin Grigoryevich

Issue Date

2024-07-10

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Cope, William

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Cope, William

Committee Member(s)

• Kalantzis, Mary
• Tanchuk, Nicolas
• Burbules, Nicholas

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Vygotsky
• Hegel
• Gadamer
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Zone of Proximal Opportunity
• Speech Thinking
• Materialism
• Idealism
• Monism
• Dualism
• Geist
• Bildung
• Development
• Understanding
• Constructivism
• Clinical Education
• Hermeneutics

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to re-evaluate clinical legal education from the perspective of education theory rather than focusing on collateral benefits of providing benefits to disadvantaged litigants or to hone practical skills of future legal practitioners. To achieve this purpose, this dissertation posits the following question: How could Vygotsky’s theories on education provide the necessary theoretical basis for legal clinical education in the United States and China? This dissertation covers the genesis of Vygotsky’s ideas on “understandings” and how those theories are synthesized from Vygotsky’s “instrumental method”, teaching for development, as well as the role of a teacher as an organizer of student activity rather than as a unitary provider of wisdom and knowledge. To understand Vygotsky’s theories, this dissertation takes the long path of understanding through Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit”. This path serves two functions: First, the methodology of this dissertation is hermeneutics which is ultimately based on Hegel’s understanding of “Spirit” or “Geist”, as interpreted by Gadamer. Second, Vygotsky’s theories are heavily influenced by Hegel, yet Vygotsky rarely cites Hegel either because of his personal custom or because of the ideological constraints inherent to writing in 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union. Hegel’s strong inspiration on both Vygotsky and Gadamer is demonstrated in a thorough discussion on hermeneutics and its role in both the communicative role of speech and in the acquisition of learning and understanding by students. Gadamer’s and Vygotsky’s interpretations of Hegel are provided to demonstrate that hermeneutics is ultimately a theory of education as much as it is a theory of scientific method in the humanities. In that vein, Vygotsky seeks to create a general theory of psychology which attempts to draw motivation from both Hegel and Marx. This brings Vygotsky to tackle the conflict between idealism and materialism which he attempts to reconcile into a cultural historical theory of general psychology. Although Vygotsky is frequently associated with childhood education, his writings are expressly broader in scope and Vygotsky sees himself as a scholar of general psychology rather than child psychology. Vygotsky’s celebrated concept of the “zone of proximal development" is fundamentally based on the relationship between individual experience in daily life and formally taught “scientific understandings”. “Worldly understandings” create “zones of proximal opportunity” for the teaching of “scientific understandings” which are taught through the “zone of proximal development”. The concept of “understandings” is then tied back to subjective meanings of words since “understandings” ultimately reside in an individual’s meanings of words. Vygotsky further expands on these “understandings” by connecting them to speech-thinking and the relationship between thought and word. In this sense, Vygotsky’s theories hold some theological implications which are at the basis of Hegel’s understanding of the Geist. Based on Vygotsky’s theories of understanding and cultural historical development of psychological functions, this dissertation provides practical implications for legal clinical education. Legal clinical education is not a particular activity, but rather a philosophy of including student experiences into the classroom for learning and creating new legal theories.

Graduation Semester

2024-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125770

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Konstantin Grigoryevich Vertsman

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