Post-Bruner Reflections on the Human Mind

Abstract

AbstractAfter a short presentation of some key aspects of Jerome Bruner’s theories of the mind, this paper aims to assess his thinking on the mind in light of a broader context. This is done from three different angles: (1) By focusing on Roman Jakobson’s theories about language, which Bruner refers to. (2) By bringing in some post-structuralist perspectives that problematize narratives and logocentric entrenchments in scientific thinking. (3) By analyzing the eighteenth-century German discussion among Christian Wolff, Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten and Immanuel Kant about the role of metaphysics in their understanding of psychology. The findings indicate that Roman Jakobson, with his poetic understanding of language, may point to a valid path for future research on the mind. Moreover, Jakobson’s understanding is also compatible with Baumgarten’s use of poetic aspects. Both manage to subvert the logocentric aspect of humans’ use of language and by this demonstrate how metacognition has to be understood through esthetic functions that go beyond a logocentric use of language. The Wolffian emphasis on mathematics and logic in Wolff’s understanding of psychology is comparable with many of the premises for the cognitive revolution in the 1950s. The Kantian focus on concepts and rule-governed understanding also points in this direction. Bruner seems to ignore the historical background for discussions of psychology in the twentieth century, and because of this has problems moving beyond the logocentric premises that govern most of the cognitive sciences.