ON HUMAN-BEINGS, COMPUTERS AND REPRESENTATIONAL-COMPUTATIONAL VS HERMENEUTIC-DIALOGICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION

Current representational-computational approaches to human cognition a nd communication, it is argued, represent natural-scientifically coach ed ramifications of an analytic-rationalist philosophical tradition co ncerned with formal features of 'pure' and de-contextualized human rea son. Scholars conducting their inquiries within hermeneutic-dialogical ly founded traditions, on the other hand, are seriously concerned with the inherent perspectivity of human cognition and the embeddedness of linguistically mediated meaning in pervasive background conditions an d fluctuating human interests and concerns. The epistemological gulf b etween analytic-rationalist and hermeneutic-dialogical approaches is r eflected in their answers to the question whether the researcher's and informant's mastery of meaning 'from within' should be considered a c umbersome residual or an opaque, yet indispensable resource. What has to be dealt with as a residual to get rid of in attempts at externaliz ation and machine representation of human knowledge and reasoning, it is suggested, may constitute an indispensable resource in any potentia lly emancipatory study of language and mind.