Linguosynthesis

Abstract

We have been able so far to inquire into the general conditions of human cognition without paying much attention to language. There were only two suggestions: in chapter 8 that normal physiological maturation, i.e. the final structuring of the human brain, might require exposure to language; and, in the preceding chapter, that in technological cognition language marks the difference between descriptive and prescriptive knowledge on the one hand, and tacit and ineffable knowledge on the other. However, the linguistic turn described in chapter 2 has made the inquiry into the nature of language unavoidable for any theory of science. The turn has brought the linguistic aspect of science to such a prominence that it has overshadowed all the other facets of the phenomenon. Still, as we have seen, the logic of science has approached language almost exclusively along its syntactical dimension and descriptive function ignoring all others. Such an oversimplifying approach is particularly inappropriate for an integral theory of science. So we must try again.