Communication as Navigation: A New Role for Consciousness in Language

Topoi 33 (1):263-274 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Classical cognitive science has been characterized by an association with the computational theory of mind. Although this association has produced highly significant results, it has also limited the scope of scientific psychology. In this paper, we analyse the limits of the specific kind of computational model represented by the Chomskian-Fodorian tradition in the study of mind and language. In our opinion, the adhesion to the principle of formality imposed by this specific computational model has motivated the exclusion of consciousness in the reflection on language and, consequently, has led to the inability to account for some aspects of language functioning at the processing level of discourse. The aim of this article is to restore the role of consciousness in discourse comprehension and production processes. Specifically, we argue that the ability to produce and understand discourses is based on individuals’ capacity for navigation in space and time. We will show that the space–time orientation is guaranteed by the projection of the self, which involves a special kind of consciousness

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Time Machine in Our Mind.Kurt Stocker - 2012 - Cognitive Science 36 (3):385-420.
Mental spaces: aspects of meaning construction in natural language.Gilles Fauconnier - 1994 - New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Language is in principle inaccessible to consciousness. But why?Maxim Stamenov - 2008 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 15 (6):85-118.
Time Travel and Time Machines.Douglas Kutach - 2013 - In Adrian Bardon & Heather Dyke (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Time. Chichester, UK: Blackwell. pp. 301–314.
Why There Cannot be Any Such Thing as “Time Travel”.Rupert Read - 2011 - Philosophical Investigations 35 (2):138-153.
Toward a continuity of consciousness.Michael Spivey & Sarah Cargill - 2007 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 14 (1):216-233.
Epistemic consciousness.C. N. - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 33 (3):425-441.
Epistemic consciousness.Neil Manson - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 33 (3):425-441.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-05-14

Downloads
141 (#122,241)

6 months
10 (#135,615)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Erica Cosentino
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Francesco Ferretti
Università degli Studi Roma Tre

References found in this work

Metaphors we live by.George Lakoff & Mark Johnson - 1980 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Mark Johnson.
Action in Perception.Alva Noë - 2004 - MIT Press.

View all 31 references / Add more references