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WiSe 20/21: The Communicative Constitution of Social Reality

Harald Wenzel

Information for students

Online Asynchronous

Comments

Jürgen Habermas has given an explanation for the refocusing of social theory on communication and language: We need to include these concepts because high-modern societies suffer from the erosion of communicative processes. But as many of his predecessors he as well seems to have taken for granted a particular accomplishment of communication and language – that of creating a common social world. Interestingly those approaches in social theory which have made the generation of a common reality their main focus do not seriously engage in a theory of communication but may be seen as still stuck in a prelinguistic epistemology. But it should be intuitively obvious that we use language and communication to create and maintain a common sense of reality. But how do we do that? ----- In this course we will try to look into this lacuna of social theory and find out about possible remedies. There is no clear and finished body of works we can consult. So the discussions will be somehow experimental in character. Literature on the evolution of language, on language acquisition, on conversation (rather than on argumentation) may be used to create inroads into the topic. There are the usual suspects – Mead, Schutz, Wittgenstein, Habermas et al. – who may serve as positive (or negative) examples how to go about the problem at stake. We might also look into the circumstances when a common reality fails to be created or no longer exists. ----- Instead of an introductory text I would recommend an introductory assignment: How do you get from something that you “feel” subjectively certain about to a reality that is accepted by others as well? Wittgensteins notes “On Certainty” (New York 1969: Harper Torchbooks) might offer material to think about this. Alternatively you may read a sci-fi novel: Stanislav Lem, Eden (New York 1989: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich) and think about its plot. close