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This interdisciplinary conversation discusses the nature of language.
Beyond the Symbol Model: Reflections on the Representational Nature of Language presents arguments on several sides of the contemporary debate over the representational nature of language. Contributors include philosophers, linguists, psychologists, semioticians, and communication theorists from the U. S., Canada, Britain, Northern Ireland, and Israel. The chapters respond to the argument that language can no longer be viewed as a system of signs or symbols, and that a post-semiotic account can be developed from the recognition that language is first and foremost constitutive articulate contact. Three chapters extend this argument, two frame it historically, three disagree, and one contextualizes the "beyond enterprise" itself.
The book is a companion volume to Language as Articulate Contact: Toward a Post-Semiotic Philosophy of Communication. These two books contribute to the ongoing conversation about the nature of language that is strongly influencing theory and research in virtually all the human studies.
"It is exciting that Stewart is questioning assumptions that can be traced back as far as the fifth century B. C. The grouping of essays is very well done and a logical progression is established and maintained by Stewart's editorial commentaries. The references to Heidegger and Gadamer are on the money and the insights are some of the best I've seen." — Craig R. Smith, California State University—Long Beach
"This book demonstrates a diversity of perspectives under one epistemological theme. The theme, or should I say shift in perspective, of this collection of essays is probably one of the most important issues in the current debate on communication, philosophy, and scientific practice. These essays reflect this debate well. It is to the editor's credit that he allows dissenting voices to be heard in this volume so that readers see the robustness of his argument and the possibility of contributing to the far-from-finished exchanges." — Klaus Krippendorff, University of Pennsylvania—Philadelphia
Editor's Introduction
Part I. Alternatives to Representational Accounts of Language and Meaning
1. The Symbol Model vs. Language as Constitutive Articulate Contact
John Stewart
2. Being and Speaking
Gary Madison
3. Before Theory and After Representationalism: Understanding Meaning 'from Within' a Dialogical Practice
John Shotter
4. The Communicative Dictionary: A Collaborative Theory of Meaning
Gillian L. Roberts and Janet Beavin Bavelas
Part II. Postmodern Rediscoveries
5. Friedrich Nietzsche's Theory of Language and Its Reception in Contemporary Thought
Ernst Behler
6. Simple Signs, Indeterminate Events: Lyotard on Sophists and Semiotics
Andrew R. Smith
Part III. Resuscitations of Semiotic Dimensions
7. Semiotic and Transactional Aspects of Language
D. S. Clarke
8. A Social Account of Symbols
Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
9. Discourse Worlds and Representation
John Wilson
Part IV. Continuing the Conversation
10. The Beyond Enterprise
Marcelo Dascal
Contributors
Index