This paper addresses the notion of communicative action on the basis of Alfred Schutz’ writings. In Schutz’ work, communication is of particular significance and its importance is often neglected by phenomenologists. Communication plays a crucial role in his first major work, the Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt from 1932, yet communication is also a major feature in his unfinished works which were later completed posthumously by Thomas Luckmann: The Structures of the Life World (1973, 1989). In these texts, Schutz (...) sometimes refers to “communicative action,” and he comes to ascribe a crucial role to communication within the domain of the life world he calls everyday life. Based on Schutz’ texts, I shall first attempt to critically reconstruct the defining features of his notion of communication and communicative action. As a result, it emerges that Schutz’ notion of communication, particularly in its early incarnation, seems to be, at first glance, characterized by a dichotomy between virtual communication, that is communicative action in a narrow sense, and non-virtual communication. As I want to show with respect to the seemingly established dichotomous distinction between “mediated” and “immediate social action,” Schutz himself started to overcome this dichotomy. Based on this thesis, I will try to sketch a basic outline of a theory of communicative action, a theory less formulated by Schutz’ than built on Schutz’ writings. As the idea of communicative action, and particularly the transgression of the distinction between mediated and immediate action, affects the very structures of the life-world described by Schutz and Luckmann, I will ultimately demonstrate that any mundane phenomenology of the life-world requires a triangulatory method. (shrink)

This work analyzes the central role of interpretation in non-routine design. Based on this analysis, a theory of computer support for interpretation in cooperative design is constructed. The theory is grounded in studies of design and interpretation. It is illustrated by mechanisms provided by a software substrate for computer-based design environments, applied to a sample task of lunar habitat design. ;Computer support of innovative design must overcome the problem that designers necessarily make extensive use of situated tacit understanding while computers (...) can only store and display explicit representations of information. The automation techniques used for routine design are not applicable: techniques are needed to support creative, tacit human understanding with explicit computer representations. ;The process by which designers transform their tacit preunderstanding into explicit knowledge is termed "interpretation". Interpretation is necessary for solving design problems and collaborating with other designers. Considerable explicit knowledge is thereby generated in the natural course of designing. Often this knowledge includes the most valuable information that can be presented to designers who revisit these design projects or undertake similar projects in the future. If representations of this knowledge have been defined using computer-based design support systems, then the representations can be captured by these systems for the support of subsequent design work. ;A theory of computer support for interpretation in design is presented in three stages. First, the role of interpretation in design is explored by reviewing descriptions of design by Alexander, Rittel, and Schon; by conducting a protocol analysis of lunar habitat design; and by applying Heidegger's philosophy of situated interpretation. Second, this analysis of interpretation is extended to define a theory of computer support. The features of this theory--support for the situated, perspectival, and linguistic characteristics of interpretation--are used to evaluate previous work on software design rationale systems. Third, design principles are discussed for H scERMES, a prototype hypermedia substrate for building computer-based design environments to support interpretation in tasks like lunar habitat design. The hypermedia integrates a perspectives mechanism and an end-user language to capture and modify representations of the design situation, alternative perspectives on design tasks, and terminology for conceptualizing design issues. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo se intenta una aproximación al concepto de «sí-mismo» desarrollado por Heidegger en la analítica existencial de Ser y Tiempo y en las lecciones en torno a ese período. Para lograr tal cometido primero se esclarecen diferencias importantes entre los conceptos de «existencia» y «subjetividad». En base a esa importante diferencia se desarrolla la descripción de la noción heideggeriana de «sí-mismo» en tres partes: se establece la bidimensionalidad como el marco de comprensión de tal fenómeno; se establece (...) la propiedad como acceso metódico a la finitud, y esta última como ámbito en que el sí-mismo se muestra como fundamento; se establece la forma del sí-mismo como autoafección en base a su esencia temporal. Lo anterior permite comprender que el sí-mismo no es algo real como el sujeto o la consciencia, sino el carácter de unidad fundamental de la apertura bidimensional. (shrink)

El presente articulo retoma la larga discusión sobre la relación entre los principales conceptos de verdad de la fenomenología – la evidencia husserliana y el estar al descubierto heideggereano – para argumentar contra las dos vertientes analíticas imperantes que, transitando caminos diferentes, han arrojado sin embargo la misma conclusión en cuanto a una insalvable mutua exclusión entre tales conceptos. A continuación se darán algunas claves que permitirán exponer tales conceptos como modos complementarios de un fenómeno de verdad mas amplio, para (...) finalmente y en base a esta exposición poner de relieve de forma critica ciertos aspectos de la comprensión de historia de Heidegger que como se mostrará han repercutido negativamente en una visión unificadora de la fenomenología. (shrink)