E.F. TARASOV'S ASSUMPTION OF INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS: PHILOSOPHICAL TRIANGULATION OF CLARIFICATION OF ACTUALGENESIS

Dashinimaeva P.P.

Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State University
Ulan-Ude, Russia
e-mail: pdash@bsu.ru

Introduction as a subject trajectory of psycholinguistics according to E. F. Tarasov

I've always admired Evgeny Fedorovich Tarasov for his firm conviction in the direction psycholinguistics is taking: from the activity-based function of language to the interrelations between thought, speech, and its determination by perceptual processes, and then to the mechanisms of communication as an interaction of consciousnesses. Furthermore, with the application of triangulation, this direction of development should lead to the discovery and recording of changes in the content of universal human values across ethnic cultures and intercultural spaces. Ultimately, these findings, as the subject of psycholinguistics, should be transformed into objects of prescriptive research in pedagogy and other humanities, and then in the relevant spheres of legislative and executive power.

Indeed, if the aforementioned psycholinguistic trajectory effectively and organizationally achieves its ultimate goal in a practical sense, then it becomes possible to speak of "restoring (correcting) society's socialization activities to purposefully shape the cultural and ethnic identity of members of the Russian superethnos" [18, p. 10], i.e., to speak of science as such fulfilling its intended purpose. In formulating this applied idea, Evgeny Fedorovich rightly notes that a state of anomie is observed in society, i.e., an intergenerational gap in the continuity of norms, which, due to insufficient activity, has caused a corresponding value-regulatory vacuum. It turns out that psycholinguistics, as a data provider, stands not only at the beginning of the process of systemic activity to ensure the integrity of Russian society, but also at its end – as a verifier of the degree of effectiveness of multi-stage environmental activities to improve the health of the nation.

The condition for achieving what is designated by the attribute "intensity" is revealed by the author within the framework of the psycholinguistic conceptual apparatus by the following interdependence: "If in an activity people process objects, and the accuracy of the operations of the activity is controlled in culture by means of the correspondence of the characteristics of the product to the qualities of the sample, then in communication the success of "processing people by people" cannot be controlled objectively, since the external form of people does not change in the process of communication, therefore the operations (technologies) of communication are fixed in society in the form of vague approximate descriptions in the form of etiquette rules with varying degrees of accuracy of prescriptions" [ibid., p. 11]. According to E. F. Tarasov, the degree of understanding of the content of the subject of communication is achieved through the experience of identifying the repeated actualization of verbal structures within the framework of a particular topic. Since prescriptions as a knowledge component of a specific individual are based on images of consciousness, accordingly, in our opinion, prescriptions serve as a modal parameter for the listener/reader to determine the meanings of messages – the communicative intention/goal, function, meaning, message of the text – all those components that are extremely difficult to identify, especially for subjects studying linguistics.

In particular, they find it difficult to understand the mechanism of «the way in which the speaker expresses the content of an utterance, constructed at the previous stage of speech production with the help of images of non-linguistic consciousness» [20, p. 175], the reverse process of which explains the perception of speech. The key instrumental category of psycholinguistics, «image of consciousness,» points to the atomic level of the internal – individual – consciousness, although at the level of generalization, each in aggregate gives a collective consciousness that allows us to justify the social ontology of speech communication, to develop and process the methodological aspect of its study as a transformed form of social interaction of communication participants.

If such a description of collective consciousness is more understandable, then the question of how our science can accept the assumption of individual consciousness of each bearer of an ethnic language-culture is clarified by the author at the level of ontogenesis and actual genesis^[1]:

(1) «each member of a modern ethnic group cannot appropriate the entire [ethnic] culture – he masters only that fragment of his culture, the necessity of assimilation of which is conditioned by the activities that he carries out in the course of existence in his ethnic culture»;

(2) knowledge formed in ontogenesis «about the substance, functions and symbolic properties of cultural objects» (sometimes the skills and abilities of their production and consumption) create images of non-linguistic consciousness, which become «the content of images of linguistic consciousness», used by the subject of consciousness «for further categorization of non-linguistic knowledge»;

(3) however, for existential reasons (through «personal experience») subjects influence the objects of reality, and accordingly the actual genesis is modified «from images of non-linguistic consciousness to verbal categorization with the help of images of linguistic consciousness» [20, pp. 172–174].

In the last point, of interest for this work is the act of modification of actual genesis, which occurs as a chain reaction of modifications «from images of non-linguistic consciousness to verbal categorization using images of linguistic consciousness»", or in the formulation "modifications occurring as a result of"«externalization of formed knowledge in the case of verbal communication».

 

Discussion. The Assumption of Individual Consciousness: An Appeal to Philosophy

My teaching experience in teaching students translation mediation in intercultural communication shows that from the three conditions of admission outlined, it is quite easy for them to understand point (1) and the first parts of points (2) and (3). In other words, it is not difficult for them to understand why bearers of one culture do not have identical worldviews, which is why the problem of communication between representatives of different national consciousnesses, filled with «knowledge formed at various levels, including through the senses» [16, pp. 7-8; 17], arises; however, it is ontologically difficult for students to perceive the essence individual linguistic consciousness, since they see something universal in linguistic form, and attribute an extra-linguistic character to consciousness.

It is proposed to begin the discussion of the posed problem, which has a clearly hermeneutic meaning, with the initial position that mental images of consciousness are «available for observation in introspection only for the subject of consciousness»", since it externalizes mental images "in products, results of activity" (Italics mine. - P.D.) [15, p. 6]. This initial condition of E.F. Tarasov is taken by us as the basis of a particular research hypothesis that the individuality of consciousness^[2] is assumed primarily by the axiom that the content of mental images objectified during the act of communication is unique a priori, since thought is formed on their basis as a singularity [7]. This thesis is usually confirmed by introspective observation of the discrepancy between thought and its linguistic expression. For example, at the profane level, a thoughtful communicator often assumes that a thought does not correspond to a linguistic sign because he thought of something elusive-(/beautiful-/unexpected-/logical-…) convincing, but somehow failed to properly "dress" what he thought in the "correct" words and structures.

Let us recall that in early linguistics, including at the level of lexicographic semantics, Yu.D. Apresyan distinguished between meaning as «denotative identity» and «significative difference», although he concluded that in connection with absence «"permanent content" term shade of meaning «"it has no scientific value," therefore "it should be abandoned" [1, p. 328]. It is clear that the scientist wrote this work in the era of the methodological dominance of structural linguistics, which dictated the need to develop methods for the universalization of lexical semantics.

It seems that we should turn to the past experience of philosophy - the supplier of methodology for all areas of knowledge, including linguistics, because in identifying fundamental types of knowledge and laws of intellectual cognitive activity, this queen of sciences uses logic as the main method of thinking, on the other hand, logic is subject philosophy in such manifestations as the taxonomy of types, principles and mechanism of its flow, the degree of its formalizability, etc. It is also important for us that logic serves as a methodological tool for creating a metalanguage (second-order language) for describing general concepts [9] or externally unobservable cognitive phenomena.

Thus, we consider the four bases for the functioning of consciousness as conditions detailing the assumption of the individuality of consciousness.

1. Intentionality

Here the concepts of «noesis» and «noema» (Greek) serve as metalanguage. noesis - thinking, noema – the act of thinking). At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, noetic metalanguage began to be used in a philosophical vein thanks to E. Husserl, who introduced it to describe the structure of the intentionality of consciousness – the direction of consciousness towards an object [5, 6]: noesis is a dynamic act of consciousness aimed at the perception and (re)interpretation of an object as a way of its givenness through sensations and meaning-making, accordingly, noema is the content of this act, as it is presented in consciousness as an intentional correlate of noesis.

The object of direction not only implies an «inanimate» correlate of a fragment of the external world, but also Other (oneself or another), in relation to which the subject permanently rethinks himself. In this context, the definition of the noematic core is of interest as "a duality that posits various transcendental and empirical contents, replacing each other according to certain laws of causes and conditions, yielding various consequences, which on the surface of present existence are given to us as non-reflexive and substantial I and not-I" [2]. Here, intentionality as a basic characteristic of consciousness helps M. Bitkeev expand its understanding in the interpretation of Buddhist phenomenology, thus facilitating the terminological "crystallization" of metalanguage.

2. Integrity as the uniqueness of the noema

The way in which the interactions of real (external and internal) factors then receive transformed certainty, i.e. the integrity of the transformation, gives rise to a phenomenological «I» in relation to the «not-I», which, in turn, indicates the variability and singularity of the noema (the process can be described by the metaphor «It is impossible to step into the same river twice»"). In another metalanguage, this conclusion is described:

• J. Searle, by using the features of «temporality», «subjectivity» and «intentionality», which together ensure the unity or integrity of all components of the mechanism of transformations [14], which also ultimately proves the uniqueness of actual genesis;
• E. Husserl defined the fluidity of the «life-world in experiences», i.e. reality as a given individual consciousness, which is fixed not as a separate thing, but connectivity things, people, light, sensations, etc. [4, pp. 232–234];
• M. Heidegger, through the ontic description of the inexpressible in language of being (Dasein), passing into expressible non-being («the world of Nothing») [21, pp. 63–65], i.e. when being as the being "is"« is inevitably reduced by language, and as Nothing – the fundamental condition of any experience – it opens its boundaries for expression in language.

3. Synergistic flow of noema

The integrity and uniqueness of semiosis is achieved by a temporal «connection»: living thought exists in two worlds-dimensions – in the present and in the rapidly dispersing past and future [10, 11, 8, 12]; such a permanent presence of uncontrolled thought in two worlds ensures a state of chaos of doubts, which tends to destroy a fragile concept or meaning.

The internal creativity of meaning lies in such a synergistic movement of thought in opposite directions [3]. Let us recall that this multidirectionality of the vector is described by M. Mamardashvili as an «arrow of knowledge» directed «up and down» relative to the horizontal movement of time, since in the chaos of mental acts 1) the subject continually gets stuck in the temporary «bags» of unreality [10]; 2) the unity of «time and thought» is maintained and fixed only in the vertical section as the completeness of meaning, consisting of the «collected infinity of empirical facts and circumstances», our acts and ourselves, «tied or engaged» by relationships arising from the nature of things, while the subject himself is «vertical», i.e. he is awake «in the entire composition of his being and the tension of all the forces available to us» [11, pp. 200-209].

4. The personal nature of the cognitive process

The first person "I" is the only space and place from which actual semiosis begins. According to Searle, brain science should not identify the subjective (modality of the subject) and the objective, i.e., postulate a universality that by definition eliminates the subjective. The third person demonstrates "an understanding of reality that is not only epistemologically objective, but also ontologically objective" [14, p. 107]. The pre-predicative "life-world", in accordance with the thought of M. Heidegger, is always my world; no one proceeds from the universal, but from «my «I am», from my spiritual – and in general – factual origin» [according to: 13, p. 79]. In other words, the direction, integrity and uniqueness of actual genesis are formed through the vector of the «I».

Thus, the above 4 arguments-foundations postulate the legitimacy of the assumption individual consciousness, on the one hand, and the relevance of the axiom of the discrepancy between noematic content and its potential verbal explication, which stems from this assumption, on the other, if by the latter we mean both the traditional understanding (the experience of signifying those meanings recorded in the explanatory dictionary) and the modern transdisciplinary one (the infusion of the dry sediment of the subject's experienced significance into the "empty" body of the linguistic sign). However, detailed theoretical frameworks explaining the search for the necessary words and structures that would correspond to the feelings and emotions "here and now," the distribution under the category "us/them," and other pragmatic factors, require separate and serious attention.

 

Conclusion

A review of several works by Evgeny Fedorovich Tarasov allowed us to present his vision of the object-based development of psycholinguistics. In this methodological roadmap, we identified the author's concept of individual consciousness as a problem that could be enriched with a philosophical perspective, thereby applying triangulation to enhance its evidentiary strength.

It would not be a mistake to assert that for the philosophical mind the solution to the above assumption is directly connected with the knowability of the world and with the question of how possible a universal-conventional meaning is: the identity of the perception of a fragment of the objective world or the physical data of a particular object would provide the right to postulate identity in the outer world of denotative content, i.e. to admit an unambiguous determinism, which, however, a priori would bring us under naive realism (A. Einstein's term).

As we have attempted to present through the positions of philosophers who have received worldwide scientific recognition, the product of the perception and generation of speech is another semantic world, created outside of direct connection with language through a multitude of diverse semiotic codes and other communication channels, primarily individual sensory-emotional experiences as meanings «here and now,» which accordingly provide a certain guarantee of the individuality of consciousness.

Literature

1. Apresyan Yu.D. Meaning and shade of meaning // Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Department of Literature and Language. Vol. XXXII. Issue 4. Moscow, 1974. Pp. 320–330.
2. Bitkeev M.P. The logic of form and content of the introjected noematic core of «I» and «not-I» in Buddhism [Electronic resource] // URL: https://paradigma.narod.ru/02/bitkeyev.html (date accessed: 29.10.2024).
3. Budanov V.G., Arshinov V.I. Cognitive foundations of synergetics // Synergetic paradigm -2: nonlinear thinking in science and art. Moscow: Progress-tradition. 2002. Pp. 67–108.
4. Husserl E. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy. St. Petersburg, 2004. 398 p.
5. Husserl E. Consciousness as an intentional experience // Selected works / compiled by V.V. Anashvili, V.A. Kurennoy et al. Moscow: Territory of the Future, 2005a. Pp. 151–184.
6. Husserl E. Ideas towards a pure phenomenology and phenomenological philosophy // Selected works / compiled by V.V. Anashvili, V.A. Kurennoy et al. Moscow: Territory of the Future, 2005b. Pp. 242–282.
7. Dashinimaeva P.P. On the uniqueness of the variable noema // Proceedings of the XVI International Symposium on Psycholinguistics and Communication Theory «Psycholinguistics in the 21st Century: Results, Problems, Prospects». Moscow, 2009. Pp. 76–77.
8. Deleuze J. The Logic of Meaning. Moscow: Raritet, Yekaterinburg: Delovaia kniga, 1998. 484 p.
9. Kanunnikova O.V. Metalanguage as a way of forming abstractions in concrete scientific knowledge // Bulletin of KSU named after N.A. Nekrasov. 2011. No. 2. P. 46–49.
10. Mamardashvili M.K. The Arrow of Knowledge. A Sketch of Natural-Historical Epistemology / Ed. Yu.P. Senokosov. Moscow: School "Languages of Russian Culture", 1996. 304 p.
11. Mamardashvili M.K. Aesthetics of Thinking. Moscow: Moscow School of Political Studies, 2000. 416 p.
12. Polani M. Personal knowledge. Towards postcritical philosophy. Moscow: Progress, 1985. 344 p.
13. Safranski R. Heidegger: The German Master and His Time. Series: Lives of Remarkable People. Moscow: Young Guard, 2002. 614 p.
14. Searle J. Rediscovering Consciousness / Translated from English by A.F. Gryaznov. Moscow: Idea-Press, 2002. 256 p.
15. Tarasov E.F. About the forms of existence of consciousness. // Language and consciousness: paradoxical rationality / ed. E.F. Tarasov. M.: Institute of Foreign Languages RAS, 1993. P.86-97.
16. Tarasov E.F. Intercultural communication – a new ontology for the analysis of linguistic consciousness // Ethnocultural specificity of linguistic consciousness: collection of articles / ed. N. V. Ufimtseva. Moscow: Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1996. pp. 7–22.
17. Tarasov E.F. Problems of the theory of speech communication // Problems of the theory of speech communication // Questions of psycholinguistics, 2010. 2(12). P. 20–26.
18. Tarasov E.F. The problem of analyzing the content of universal human values // Questions of psycholinguistics. 2012. 1 (15). P. 8–17.
19. Tarasov E.F. Ontology and phenomenology of linguistic and non-linguistic consciousness // Language-culture, thinking-cognition. Integrative research: Proceedings of the international scientific and practical conference. / Scientific ed. G.S. Dorzhieva. Ulan-Ude - Baikal Riviera: Buryat State University, 2018. pp. 3–9. EDN YLTWAP.
20. Tarasov E.F. Commentary on the article by A.A. Yakovlev // Issues of Psycholinguistics / Invitation to Discussion. 2019. 2(40). P. 172–175.
21. Heidegger M. Being and Time / translated from German by V.V. Bibikhin. Introduction by I.V. Minakov. Moscow: Ad Marginem, 1997. 452 p.

References

1. Apresyan Yu.D. Meaning and shade of meaning // Izvestiya AN SSSR. Department of Literature and Language. Vol. XXXII. Issue. 4. M., 1974. P. 320-330.
2. Bitkeev MP. The logic of the form and content of the introductory noematic core of «I» and «not-I» in Buddhism [Electronic resource] // URL: https://paradigma.narod.ru/02/bitkeyev.html (data obrashheniya: 10/29/2024).
3. Budanov VG, Arshinov VI. Cognitive foundations of synergetics // Sinergetic paradigm -2: nonlinear thinking in science and art. Moscow: Progress-tradiciya. 2002. P. 67-108.
4. Gusserl` E`. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy. St. Petersburg, 2004. 398 p.
5. Gusserl` E`. Consciousness as an Intentional Experience // Selected Works / compiled by VV Anashvili, VA Kurennoy, et al. Moscow: Territory of the Future, 2005a, pp. 151–184.
6. Gusserl` E`. Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy // Selected Works / compiled by VV Anashvili, VA Kurennoy, and others. Moscow: Territory of the Future, 2005b, pp. 242–282.
7. Dashinimaeva PP. On the Uniqueness of Variable Noema // Proceedings of the XVI International Symposium on Psycholinguistics and Communication Theory «Psycholinguistics in the 21st Century: Results, Problems, Prospects». Moscow, 2009. P. 76-77.
8. Delyoz Zh. Logika smysla. M.: Raritet, Ekaterinburg: Delovaya kniga, 1998. 484 s.
9. Kanunnikova OV. Metalanguage as a way of forming abstractions in concrete scientific knowledge // Vestnik of KSU im. N. A. Nekrasov. 2011. No. 2. P. 46-49.
10. Mamardashvili MK. Arrow of knowledge. Sketch of natural history gnoseology / Ed. Yu.P. Senokosova. Moscow: School of Languages of Russian Culture, 1996. 304 p.
11. Mamardashvili MK. Aesthetics of Thinking. Moscow: Moscow School of Political Studies, 2000. 416 p.
12. Polani M. Personal knowledge. Towards postcritical philosophy. Moscow: Progress, 1985. 344 p.
13. Safranski R. Xajdegger: German master and his time. Series ZhZL. M.: Molodaya gvardiya, 2002. 614 s.
14. Syorl` Dj. Reopening Consciousness / Translated from English by A. F. Gryaznova. Moscow: Ideya-Press, 2002. 256 p.
15. Tarasov EF. On the Form of the Existence of Consciousness. // Languages of Consciousness: Paradoxical Rationality / ed. E. F. Tarasov. Moscow: IYa RAN, 1993. P. 86-97.
16. Tarasov EF. Intercultural communication – a new ontology of the analysis of linguistic consciousness // Ethnocultural specifics of linguistic consciousness: a collection of states / ed. NV Ufimtseva. Moscow: IYa RAS, 1996. pp. 7-22.
17. Tarasov EF. Problems of the theory of speech communication // Problems of the theory of speech communication // Questions of psycholinguistics, 2010. 2(12). P. 20-26.
18. Tarasov EF. The problem of analyzing the content of universal human values // Questions of Psycholinguistics. 2012. 1 (15). P. 8-17.
19. Tarasov EF. Ontology and phenomenology of linguistic and non-linguistic consciousness // Language-culture, thinking-cognition. Integrative research: Proceedings of the international scientific-practical conference. / Scientific ed. GS Dorzhieva. Ulan-Ude – Baikal Rivera: Buryat State University, 2018. Pp. 3-9. EDN YLTWAP.
20. Tarasov EF. Commentary on AA Yakovlev’s article // Psycholinguistics Issues / Invitation to Discussion. 2019. 2(40). pp. 172-175.
21. Xajdegger M. Bygone Days and Times / translation from German by VV Bibixin. Introductory article IV by Minakov. Moscow: Ad Marginem, 1997. 452 p.

[1] «In actual genesis, the subject of knowledge, in order to identify the sensory mass that makes up the content of a sensory image, uses images of non-linguistic consciousness as a perceptual standard, as well as images of linguistic consciousness, firstly, for verbal categorization, which expands the cognitive base, and, secondly, for externalization of the formed knowledge in the case of verbal communication» [20, p. 173].

[2] According to E. F. Tarasov, «linguistic and non-linguistic consciousness is a designation of a problem area, known in linguistics as a problem verbal meaning» [19, p. 6] Due to the fundamental nature of the essential problem of linguistic consciousness, this work does not attempt to discuss it separately: in the hypothesis posed, we leave it out of the equation.