Excerpt: The rationalistic orientation of our prior training in science and technology made the foundations of hermeneutics and phenomenology nearly inaccessible to us. Before we could become open to their relevance and importance we needed to take a preliminary step towards unconcealing the tradition in which we lived, recognizing that it was in fact open to serious question. For us, this first step came through the work of Humberto Maturana, a biologist who has been concerned with understanding how biological processes can give rise to the phenomena of cognition and language.

Excerpt: Questions concerning the future uses of computers are often intertwined with questions about whether they will be intelligent. The existence of a field called ‘artificial intelligence’ implies that possibility and, as we pointed out in our introduction, there have been many speculations on the social impact of such developments. The theoretical principles developed in the earlier chapters lead us to the conclusion that one cannot program computers to be intelligent and that we need to look in different directions for the design of powerful computer technology Our goal in this chapter is to ground that conclusion in an analysis and critique of claims about artificial intelligence. We begin by examining the background in which the question of machine intelligence has been raised.

Excerpt: In this chapter we first establish a context for talking about computers and programming in general, laying out some basic issues that apply to all programs, including the artificial intelligence work that we will describe in subsequent chapters. We go into some detail here so that readers not familiar with the design of computer systems will have a clearer perspective both on the wealth of detail and on the broad relevance of a few general principles.

Excerpt: In this chapter we show how ‘language as action’ and ‘language as interpretation’ can be reconciled. In doing this we will move back and forth between two fundamental questions: “How does an utterance have meaning?” and “What kinds of actions do we perform in language?” The juxtaposition of these questions leads us to a new grounding for our understanding of language and the nature of human existence as language.

Excerpt: The preceding chapters have examined the current understanding of computers and the predictions for ‘intelligent’ machines and their uses. We have argued that artificial intelligence is founded on assumptions that limit its potential to generate new designs. The basic question we come back to in our concluding chapters is “What can people do with computers?” and to begin with, “What do people do?”

Excerpt: In Understanding Computers and Cognition, we presented a theory of language, on which we base our understanding of cognition and of computers. It includes some basic assertions about how language works […] The reviews collected here offer a striking validation of this theory. The same piece of language (in this case, our book) produced four widely different understandings, each generated within the background of a particular listener. The important issue is not that different reviewers “liked” the book more or less, but that they heard it as addresing different concerns in different ongoing conversations. We will begin our response by examining their interpretations and the backgrounds in which they arose.

Excerpt: Current thinking about computers and their impact on society has been shaped by a rationalistic tradition that needs to be re-examined and challenged as a source of understanding, As a first step we will characterize the tradition of rationalism and logical empiricism that can be traced back at least to Plato. This tradition has been the mainspring of Western science and technology, and has demonstrated its effectiveness most clearly in the ‘hard sciences’ – those that explain the operation of deterministic mechanisms whose principles can be captured in formal systems. The tradition finds its highest expression in mathematics and logic, and has greatly influenced the development of linguistics and cognitive psychology. We will make no attempt to provide a full historical account of this tradition, or to situate it on some kind of intellectual map Instead, we have chosen to concentrate on understanding its effects on current discourse and practice, especially in relation to the development and impact of computers. The purpose of this chapter is to outline its major points and illustrate their embodiment in current theories of language, mind, and action.

Excerpt: The previous chapters have dealt with fundamental questions of what it means to exist as a human being, capable of thought and language. Our discourse concerning these questions grew out of seeing their direct relevance to our understanding of computers and the possibilities for the design of new computer technology. We do not have the pretension of creating a grand philosophical synthesis in which Maturana, Heidegger, Gadamer, Austin, Searle, and others all find a niche. The importance of their work lies in its potential for unconcealing the rationalistic tradition in which we are already immersed. Their unity lies in the elements of the tradition that they challenge, and thereby reveal. As background to our study of computers and programming in Part II, this section summarizes the concerns raised in previous chapters, pointing out their areas of overlap and the role they play in our detailed examination of computer technology and design.