Revisiting Bruner’s Legacy from the Perspective of Historical Materialism

Abstract

The book Jerome S. Bruner beyond 100: cultivating possibilities (2015) is a celebration and a continuing development of Jerome S. Bruner’s contribution in psychology. As a review of this book, this article aims to commemorate Bruner’s legacy by developing it further. The main content of the book is summarized into four issues: culture and language, narrative and folk psychology, dilemmas and shared dilemmas, subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Hegel’s contribution to ‘social reality’ and Karl Marx’s historical materialism are introduced to discuss the relation between the individual and his world, which is fundamental in Bruner’s psychological inquiry and also a key question underlying the four issues. In the horizon of the ontological revolution launched by historical materialism, the difference between sensuous consciousness and pure consciousness and the dynamic process of social discourse interweaving sensuous consciousness and ideology is discussed and revisited. By integrating nature and society on the dimension of historicity, historical materialism can inspire psychology to understand the historical construction of human existence.