Tensions, articulations, and novelty in the ontogenetic development of historical thinking: Contributions of cultural–historical psychology

Abstract

To analyse or experience history, to argue or narrate it, two approaches define and explain the phenomenon of thinking about history. In recent decades, thinking about history has become especially relevant because of its relationship with citizenship, either to evaluate evidence of the past or to guide present and future action. The contributions of psychology are diverse and come from traditions that refer to apparently antagonistic psychological processes, such as narrative and argumentation. The objective of this article is to address this discussion from a cultural–historical approach, specifically Vygotskian. We propose that argumentation and narrative are psychological processes that can be developed separately in ontogeny. Both processes, under certain conditions and socially mediated action, are stressed and articulated to give way to historical thinking, a higher psychological process.