Post-Cognitivism and the Indissoluble Bonding of Languaging, Embodiment, and Thinking

Classical cognitive science often strips the inherent social character out of language, treating it as a system of internal mental representations, and so does Generative Linguistics. In contrast, post-cognitivist approaches to psychology reject representationalism but struggle with language’s ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Batisti, Filippo, Vidal, Marcos G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari 2025-06-01
Series:JoLMA
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Online Access:http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2025/01/004
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Summary:Classical cognitive science often strips the inherent social character out of language, treating it as a system of internal mental representations, and so does Generative Linguistics. In contrast, post-cognitivist approaches to psychology reject representationalism but struggle with language’s capacity to refer beyond sensory experience. Cognitive Linguistics addresses meaning and embodiment but remains somewhat isolated from broader post-cognitivist thought. The enactive approach overtly problematizes the concept of representation, but tends to marginalize language; when such focus is taken, a coherent account of semantic content remains an unresolved task. This paper surveys philosophical and linguistic perspectives on language within post-cognitivist frameworks and proposes a blueprint for future research based on four points: sociality and interaction, embodiment, ecological validity, and representation-as-praxis.
ISSN:2723-9640