Dialogue and conversation machine aspects and aspects going beyond the machine. An essay in honour of gordon pask

Abstract

To say that for cognition man stands in a Dialogue (D) with nature is a common place. As immediately understood, D means the opening up of artificially erected boundaries which a Monologue (M), as D's opponent, possibly needs in order to (anxiously) maintain its closure. Doubtless, D is of wider scope than M since it relies on the indefinite disclosure capability of man whenever he encounters the world-or, most importantly, its representatives on the part of fellow-man.An activity that consists of leaving the confines of M for stepping out, via D, into the richness of the given, unlocks man's own taciturnity, i.e. knowledge of himself 1. It might have seemed clearer to place the expression the word in quotation marks. However, the author uses the convention of quotation marks, in particular in conjunction with the notion of the word, to indicate a most particular relationship and presentation of the word. It is, therefore, important not to use normally helpful quotation marks, here.