In this paper, I have chosen to examine one phase in the development of Lev Vygotsky's 'cultural-... more In this paper, I have chosen to examine one phase in the development of Lev Vygotsky's 'cultural-historical' psychology, namely his account of what he calls 'cultural will'. The account is important for the role which Vygotsky attributes to signs in the creation of the psychological functionspsychological mechanismsinvolved in the capacity for conscious, wilful action taken to be distinctive of and unique to human beings. The paper gives an outline of some of the main issues and problems to do with the formulation of this view of 'cultural will' and attempts to locate it within a tradition of psychological naturalism linked by many intellectual threads to the Cartesian animal-asmachine philosophy. On this basis, I offer a diagnosis of the semiological flaw at the (mechanical) heart of Vygotsky's account of the will and thereby throw some light on the wider implications of these issues for perspectives on language and communication and their role in human activity and thinking.
Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in low-visibility smoky environments in which r... more Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in low-visibility smoky environments in which rescue teams must rely on haptic feedback for navigation and exploration. The overall aim of our research is to enable a human being to explore such environments using a robot. In this paper we focus on creating feedback from a robot to a human. We describe our first designs and trials with vibration motors. The focus is on determining the potential use of vibration motors for message transfer and our trials reflect whether different messages can be discriminated. We describe the testing procedure and the results of our first tests. Based on these results, we conclude that close spatial arrangement of the motors blurs individual signals.
In this chapter I consider a particular conception of the role of language in promoting human fre... more In this chapter I consider a particular conception of the role of language in promoting human freedom. We know the strength within Western thought of the belief in language as the source or location of the power of reason. But there is a concomitant association in our language-centred intellectual tradition between language and freedom. In what has become quite conventional philosophical discourse, language is said to enable an intellectual ascent from the lowly concrete of existing particulars to the lofty abstract of general or universal principle, law or essence. It is, as the story goes, the power of language to articulate the abstract which affords the possibility of freeing ourselves from the concrete chains that everywhere bind us in the here and now and of moving forward in pursuit of higher aims, aims worthy of our nature as rational thinking beings. This chapter, then, is primarily dedicated to critical musings on the use of notions of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete’ in a range of language-related enquiries and the problems such notions entail for an understanding of the scope and potential of human action and intelligence and, perhaps, freedom. At the same time, I hope to affirm the interdependence, noted by other scholars, between attitudes towards cognition and cognitive development on the one hand and methods of linguistic investigation on the other.
Olhares: Revista do Departamento de Educação da Unifesp, 2021
O artigo estabelece relações de proximidade e contradições entre as concepções teórico-metodologi... more O artigo estabelece relações de proximidade e contradições entre as concepções teórico-metodologicas desenvolvidas pelos pensadores Lev Vigostsky e Paulo Freire acerca dos processos de desenvolvimento cognitivo de pessoas adultas.
Cognitive Linguistics and the Marxist Approach to Ideology Peter E. Jones Sheffield HallamUnivers... more Cognitive Linguistics and the Marxist Approach to Ideology Peter E. Jones Sheffield HallamUniversity, Great Britain 1. Preamble: Ideology and social theory All contributors to this volume would probably accept a view of ideology as having to do with the social function of ideas ...
This is the third book in t he Palgrave Macmillan Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education ser... more This is the third book in t he Palgrave Macmillan Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education series. Like its predecessors, this volume has its origins in the Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD) seminar series, which started life at the Institute of Education, University of London, in 2002 as the initiative of Anthony Green and Glenn Rikowski. The present volume has arisen from the third seminar in the MERD series (Pedagogy and Culture), hosted by Green and Rikowski at the Institute on October 22, 2003. In the seven years since that seminar, however, the world has changed.
Those of us who had the good fortune to hear Chik Collins's masterful presentation at ISCRAT... more Those of us who had the good fortune to hear Chik Collins's masterful presentation at ISCRAT 20021 will have recognized a striking new voice on the Cultural-Historical and Activity Theory (CHAT) scene, and I'm not just talking about his ScottishEnglish accent. Collins's ...
The paper offers a critical reflection, inspired by the insights of integrational linguistics, on... more The paper offers a critical reflection, inspired by the insights of integrational linguistics, on the conception of thinking and action within the distributed cognition approach of Edwin Hutchins. Counterposing a fictional account of a mutiny at sea to Hutchins’ observational study of navigation on board the Palau, the paper argues that the ethical fabric of communication and action with its
Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in smoke filled and noisy environments in which... more Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in smoke filled and noisy environments in which rescue teams must rely on haptic feedback for navigation and safe exit. In this paper, we discuss designing and evaluating a haptic interface to enable a human being to follow a robot through an environment with no-visibility. We first briefly analyse the task at hand and discuss the considerations that have led to our current interface design. The second part of the paper describes our testing procedure and the results of our first informal tests. Based on these results we discuss future improvements of our design. Keywords-human robot interaction; haptic interface; support for no-visibility/visually impaired
5 Critical realism and scientific method in Chomsky's linguistics Peter E. Jones Introductio... more 5 Critical realism and scientific method in Chomsky's linguistics Peter E. Jones Introduction1 The publication of Noam Chomsky's (2000) essays on language and mind provides a suitable occasion on which to reconsider the critical realist reception of Chomskyan theory. ...
This book presents a unique, multi-faceted investigation of the language abilities of three older... more This book presents a unique, multi-faceted investigation of the language abilities of three older adopted Romanian orphans who experienced extreme deprivation in their early years. Serena, Gabrielle and Ingrid were aged 7 years, 6 years and nearly 4 years, respectively, when rescued by UK families from the orphanages where they were placed at or around their birth. In these institutions, an absence of social and psychological stimulation, nutritious food and physical exercise had left them completely dependent on care staff for their most basic needs, and effectively without language. The book presents the findings of a two year research study of the competencies in language, nonverbal cognition and social and communicative behaviour which the girls acquired over several years in their new homes, and discusses the implications of their linguistic progress for the Critical Period Hypothesis and modularity. Detailed qualitative analysis of the girls’ language in everyday conversation ...
The paper critically examines the relevance of one contemporary version of 'Activity Theory&#... more The paper critically examines the relevance of one contemporary version of 'Activity Theory' to our understanding and engagement with the current economic and political crises sweeping the world. We re-affirm the value and significance of Marx's work for our attempts to grasp the driving forces behind these crises and to articulate a way forward.
This article looks back at the intriguing exchange in the 1970s between Alexander Luria and Noam ... more This article looks back at the intriguing exchange in the 1970s between Alexander Luria and Noam Chomsky over fundamental questions of linguistic theory and Marxist philosophy. Luria rejected the b...
Languagethe transparent tool: reflections on reflexivity and instrumentality Preamble 'Linguistic... more Languagethe transparent tool: reflections on reflexivity and instrumentality Preamble 'Linguistics is logically impossible', Nigel Love (2007: 705) has argued, on the grounds that its subject matterthe linguistic signis the product of the specialized metalinguistic procedures of the theoretician, rather than an entity identifiable independently of any form or type of communicative practice. Indeed, since '[t]here are no (first-order) linguistic objects of any kind' (2007: 705), then the linguist's 'analytic discourse about language' is not 'a matter of reporting on objectively given first-order realities' but involves the positing of a 'second-order' construct which 'requires decontextualization, abstraction and reification' (2007: 705) of 'first-order' language use. At the same time, however, as Harris notes (1998: 20), 'everybody is a linguist. And necessarily so. Whether we are "educated" or not: whether we are "literate" or not'. He goes on: 'For all human beings engage in analytic reflection about their own linguistic experience: this is a sine qua non of engaging in language itself'. From the perspective of Harris's everybody, then, the first-order reality of linguistic communication is positively bursting with linguistic objects of innumerable kinds: from the common or garden communicational constructs relating to mundane housekeeping (names, labels, shopping lists, recipes), to those involved in mundane interaction (request, greeting, lie, interview, joke) to those involved in more specialised 'talk about talk' (words of one syllable, accent, loan word). Furthermore, such instances form merely the most obvious tip of an indefinably large iceberg of 'metalinguistic practice' which includes, but is not restricted to, linguistic acts as such (Agha, 2007: 17). 1 This relentless analytic reflection, this effortless ability to immediately hear (see or feel) a communicational value in what someone does or has done, is clearly fundamental to linguistic experience as we all know it (Taylor, 2010, 2015) and testifies to what we might call the transparency of communicational behaviour to the 'first-order linguistic objects' in play in particular contexts. This paper is devoted to a tentative and informal exploration of some aspects of this communicational transparency. 2 In particular, I intend to explore the following three questions: 1. Is there value in extending the notion of 'transparent technology' (Clark, 2003, 2011) to linguistic (and metalinguistic) activity? 2. Is the distinction between 'orders of language' (specifically the distinction between 'first-order' and 'second-order' as per Love, 2007) better viewed as a relationship between different 'first-order' linguistic or communicative practices?
In this paper, I have chosen to examine one phase in the development of Lev Vygotsky's 'cultural-... more In this paper, I have chosen to examine one phase in the development of Lev Vygotsky's 'cultural-historical' psychology, namely his account of what he calls 'cultural will'. The account is important for the role which Vygotsky attributes to signs in the creation of the psychological functionspsychological mechanismsinvolved in the capacity for conscious, wilful action taken to be distinctive of and unique to human beings. The paper gives an outline of some of the main issues and problems to do with the formulation of this view of 'cultural will' and attempts to locate it within a tradition of psychological naturalism linked by many intellectual threads to the Cartesian animal-asmachine philosophy. On this basis, I offer a diagnosis of the semiological flaw at the (mechanical) heart of Vygotsky's account of the will and thereby throw some light on the wider implications of these issues for perspectives on language and communication and their role in human activity and thinking.
Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in low-visibility smoky environments in which r... more Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in low-visibility smoky environments in which rescue teams must rely on haptic feedback for navigation and exploration. The overall aim of our research is to enable a human being to explore such environments using a robot. In this paper we focus on creating feedback from a robot to a human. We describe our first designs and trials with vibration motors. The focus is on determining the potential use of vibration motors for message transfer and our trials reflect whether different messages can be discriminated. We describe the testing procedure and the results of our first tests. Based on these results, we conclude that close spatial arrangement of the motors blurs individual signals.
In this chapter I consider a particular conception of the role of language in promoting human fre... more In this chapter I consider a particular conception of the role of language in promoting human freedom. We know the strength within Western thought of the belief in language as the source or location of the power of reason. But there is a concomitant association in our language-centred intellectual tradition between language and freedom. In what has become quite conventional philosophical discourse, language is said to enable an intellectual ascent from the lowly concrete of existing particulars to the lofty abstract of general or universal principle, law or essence. It is, as the story goes, the power of language to articulate the abstract which affords the possibility of freeing ourselves from the concrete chains that everywhere bind us in the here and now and of moving forward in pursuit of higher aims, aims worthy of our nature as rational thinking beings. This chapter, then, is primarily dedicated to critical musings on the use of notions of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete’ in a range of language-related enquiries and the problems such notions entail for an understanding of the scope and potential of human action and intelligence and, perhaps, freedom. At the same time, I hope to affirm the interdependence, noted by other scholars, between attitudes towards cognition and cognitive development on the one hand and methods of linguistic investigation on the other.
Olhares: Revista do Departamento de Educação da Unifesp, 2021
O artigo estabelece relações de proximidade e contradições entre as concepções teórico-metodologi... more O artigo estabelece relações de proximidade e contradições entre as concepções teórico-metodologicas desenvolvidas pelos pensadores Lev Vigostsky e Paulo Freire acerca dos processos de desenvolvimento cognitivo de pessoas adultas.
Cognitive Linguistics and the Marxist Approach to Ideology Peter E. Jones Sheffield HallamUnivers... more Cognitive Linguistics and the Marxist Approach to Ideology Peter E. Jones Sheffield HallamUniversity, Great Britain 1. Preamble: Ideology and social theory All contributors to this volume would probably accept a view of ideology as having to do with the social function of ideas ...
This is the third book in t he Palgrave Macmillan Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education ser... more This is the third book in t he Palgrave Macmillan Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education series. Like its predecessors, this volume has its origins in the Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD) seminar series, which started life at the Institute of Education, University of London, in 2002 as the initiative of Anthony Green and Glenn Rikowski. The present volume has arisen from the third seminar in the MERD series (Pedagogy and Culture), hosted by Green and Rikowski at the Institute on October 22, 2003. In the seven years since that seminar, however, the world has changed.
Those of us who had the good fortune to hear Chik Collins's masterful presentation at ISCRAT... more Those of us who had the good fortune to hear Chik Collins's masterful presentation at ISCRAT 20021 will have recognized a striking new voice on the Cultural-Historical and Activity Theory (CHAT) scene, and I'm not just talking about his ScottishEnglish accent. Collins's ...
The paper offers a critical reflection, inspired by the insights of integrational linguistics, on... more The paper offers a critical reflection, inspired by the insights of integrational linguistics, on the conception of thinking and action within the distributed cognition approach of Edwin Hutchins. Counterposing a fictional account of a mutiny at sea to Hutchins’ observational study of navigation on board the Palau, the paper argues that the ethical fabric of communication and action with its
Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in smoke filled and noisy environments in which... more Search and rescue operations are often undertaken in smoke filled and noisy environments in which rescue teams must rely on haptic feedback for navigation and safe exit. In this paper, we discuss designing and evaluating a haptic interface to enable a human being to follow a robot through an environment with no-visibility. We first briefly analyse the task at hand and discuss the considerations that have led to our current interface design. The second part of the paper describes our testing procedure and the results of our first informal tests. Based on these results we discuss future improvements of our design. Keywords-human robot interaction; haptic interface; support for no-visibility/visually impaired
5 Critical realism and scientific method in Chomsky's linguistics Peter E. Jones Introductio... more 5 Critical realism and scientific method in Chomsky's linguistics Peter E. Jones Introduction1 The publication of Noam Chomsky's (2000) essays on language and mind provides a suitable occasion on which to reconsider the critical realist reception of Chomskyan theory. ...
This book presents a unique, multi-faceted investigation of the language abilities of three older... more This book presents a unique, multi-faceted investigation of the language abilities of three older adopted Romanian orphans who experienced extreme deprivation in their early years. Serena, Gabrielle and Ingrid were aged 7 years, 6 years and nearly 4 years, respectively, when rescued by UK families from the orphanages where they were placed at or around their birth. In these institutions, an absence of social and psychological stimulation, nutritious food and physical exercise had left them completely dependent on care staff for their most basic needs, and effectively without language. The book presents the findings of a two year research study of the competencies in language, nonverbal cognition and social and communicative behaviour which the girls acquired over several years in their new homes, and discusses the implications of their linguistic progress for the Critical Period Hypothesis and modularity. Detailed qualitative analysis of the girls’ language in everyday conversation ...
The paper critically examines the relevance of one contemporary version of 'Activity Theory&#... more The paper critically examines the relevance of one contemporary version of 'Activity Theory' to our understanding and engagement with the current economic and political crises sweeping the world. We re-affirm the value and significance of Marx's work for our attempts to grasp the driving forces behind these crises and to articulate a way forward.
This article looks back at the intriguing exchange in the 1970s between Alexander Luria and Noam ... more This article looks back at the intriguing exchange in the 1970s between Alexander Luria and Noam Chomsky over fundamental questions of linguistic theory and Marxist philosophy. Luria rejected the b...
Languagethe transparent tool: reflections on reflexivity and instrumentality Preamble 'Linguistic... more Languagethe transparent tool: reflections on reflexivity and instrumentality Preamble 'Linguistics is logically impossible', Nigel Love (2007: 705) has argued, on the grounds that its subject matterthe linguistic signis the product of the specialized metalinguistic procedures of the theoretician, rather than an entity identifiable independently of any form or type of communicative practice. Indeed, since '[t]here are no (first-order) linguistic objects of any kind' (2007: 705), then the linguist's 'analytic discourse about language' is not 'a matter of reporting on objectively given first-order realities' but involves the positing of a 'second-order' construct which 'requires decontextualization, abstraction and reification' (2007: 705) of 'first-order' language use. At the same time, however, as Harris notes (1998: 20), 'everybody is a linguist. And necessarily so. Whether we are "educated" or not: whether we are "literate" or not'. He goes on: 'For all human beings engage in analytic reflection about their own linguistic experience: this is a sine qua non of engaging in language itself'. From the perspective of Harris's everybody, then, the first-order reality of linguistic communication is positively bursting with linguistic objects of innumerable kinds: from the common or garden communicational constructs relating to mundane housekeeping (names, labels, shopping lists, recipes), to those involved in mundane interaction (request, greeting, lie, interview, joke) to those involved in more specialised 'talk about talk' (words of one syllable, accent, loan word). Furthermore, such instances form merely the most obvious tip of an indefinably large iceberg of 'metalinguistic practice' which includes, but is not restricted to, linguistic acts as such (Agha, 2007: 17). 1 This relentless analytic reflection, this effortless ability to immediately hear (see or feel) a communicational value in what someone does or has done, is clearly fundamental to linguistic experience as we all know it (Taylor, 2010, 2015) and testifies to what we might call the transparency of communicational behaviour to the 'first-order linguistic objects' in play in particular contexts. This paper is devoted to a tentative and informal exploration of some aspects of this communicational transparency. 2 In particular, I intend to explore the following three questions: 1. Is there value in extending the notion of 'transparent technology' (Clark, 2003, 2011) to linguistic (and metalinguistic) activity? 2. Is the distinction between 'orders of language' (specifically the distinction between 'first-order' and 'second-order' as per Love, 2007) better viewed as a relationship between different 'first-order' linguistic or communicative practices?
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