Abstract
The problem explored in this paper is that of the relationship between an object under representation, and its context, background or setting. The problem is not, of course, a new one. Traditionally, however, psychologists have investigated the relationship between object (figure) and field (ground) in a perceptual space viewed from outside by a non-participating observer. My emphasis, by contrast, is upon the situation of an object within an intersubjective cognitive space constituted by the background knowledge framing both subject and object at a given moment. In contrast to the Cartesian dualism of the observer/observed relation, I emphasize the interrelatedness of subject and object within a discursive framework informed by practical interest. And in contrast to the solitary ego of the observing I/Eye, I emphasize the collaborative and negotiative movement of co-operative reasoning in the establishment of shared meaning. My point of departure, then, is a communicative, rather than reflectionist, epistemology, involving a shifting, discursive subject, rather than a fixed and constitutive cogito. From this perspective, a key function of ‘background knowledge’ is that of being presupposed in communication; to paraphrase Kant, although not all background knowledge emerges from communication, it is established as presupposed background knowledge through communication.
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Sinha, C. (1983). Background Knowledge, Presupposition and Canonicality. In: Seiler, T.B., Wannenmacher, W. (eds) Concept Development and the Development of Word Meaning. Springer Series in Language and Communication, vol 12. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69000-6_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69000-6_16
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