The article is devoted to the discussion of the Zagorsky experiment. It is shown that the philosophical interpretation of the Zagorsk experiment by E.V. Ilyenkov was directed not only against the vulgar-materialistic, but also against the religious-idealistic concept of the psyche and consciousness. Ilyenkov argued that it was not the word, the speech that awakened thinking, but the work, the practice. However, not only the famous four deafblind teenagers participated in the experiment, but about 50 disabled children. At the same time, only those participants in the experiment who owned the speech reached a high degree of socialization. The article attempts to explain this from the standpoint of the philosophy of a particular idealism of priest Paul Florensky. 

Florensky defined man as a creature building tools. He singled out rough-material tools – tools, and air-ideal tools – words and concepts. Concepts are contained in the material tools. Ilyenkov is right that a person can “extract” them from them, and not just from the language. But the word is a much more convenient and organic medium for dialectical thought. Real dialectical thinking is possible only with the use of language, but within the framework of instrumental activity it is difficult. It is not by chance that the Zagorsky experiment showed that learning how to use tools gives a child elementary skills, but without a word he cannot join high culture.