The Abstract Zone of Proximal Conditions

Newman and Holzman's reformulation of Vygotskyan psychology, centering around the notions of `tool and result', `the practice of method', and `completion', are, like their later attempts to criticize and find practice-based alternatives to scientific psychology, and even to epistemology in general, thought-provoking and relevant. It may be, however, that the author's reference to `practice', in particular with the postmodern turn to `performance', below its revolutionary surface represents a rather traditional way of dismissing the significance of societal conditions and promoting therapeutic expertise.