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Innovating Genesis: Microgenesis and the Constructive Mind in Action, pp. 39–61
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39
DEVELOPING
“DEVELOPMENT” IN
THEORY AND METHOD
A Commentary on Kleine-Horst
Brady Wagoner
Developmental thinking begins when we stop looking for the things of the
world and start focusing on unfolding events. I will refer to the “things”
orientation as an objects approach and its alternative as a process
approach. An objects approach is concerned with classing and comparing
static things. In contradistinction, by process I mean to imply an interest
in movement, transformation, and synthesis. From this orientation we ask
questions about the mechanisms and constraints of movement, how
processes come into being and fade away. Abstractly we can distinguish
the two by saying that an objects approach (nondevelopmental) is
concerned with “being,” while a process approach (developmental) is
concerned with “becoming” (Valsiner, 2003). Table 2.1 represents the
logical form.
CHAPTER 2