Reinventing General Psychology—70 Years jubilee of Jaan Valsiner’s Wondrous Life

Jaan Valsiner’s contribution to psychology is immense. It includes not only the fascinating theory of cultural psychology of semiotic dynamics, studies in human development, and imaginative explorations in the history of human sciences but also diverse organisational achievements all over the world, to mention just a few. In the search for innovative theoretical synthesis and moving against existing fashionable tendencies, he almost single-handedly ‘reanimated’ particular authors’ (JM Baldwin, Felix Krueger, etc.) ideas that were long-forgotten. Rebelling against various reductionistic mainstreams of psychology, he built the holistic theoretical framework that reflects the hierarchical organisation and developmental/irreversible nature of the human psyche, the liminality of higher mental experiences and its cultural/dialogical basis. I consider Jaan Valsiner as one of the founding fathers of new general psychology who pawed the way to construct transdisciplinary, culturally sensitive and global human sciences.