Knowledge as shared procedures

Most of the chapters in this volume are concerned with applying activity theory to different aspects of individual development and social transformation. From that point of view, the subject of this chapter (the relevance of L. S. Vygotsky's ideas to the philosophical theory of knowledge) may be peripheral. Still, something is gained if, for once, we stand back and view activity theory itself against its larger background in intellectual history. The questions to be raised here, then, have to do with the history of Western epistemology, and with the ways in which the work of Vygotsky and his successors helps throw light on current problems in this area.