Cognitive Preconditions of Comprehension

Human cognitive capabilities as subject of interdisciplinary research
Human cultures are based on a wide variety of cognitive abilities: Comprehending linguistic expressions and texts, comprehending other persons and cultures, comprehending images, mathematical relationships, and musical structures. How can these abilities be understood as both creative cultural expressions and neurological processes? The workshop "Cognitive Preconditions of Comprehension," held on 12 and 13 June 2008, dealt with this interdisciplinary question by bringing together primate researchers, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and scholars of literature.



“Until now, literary and cultural studies have claimed the phenomena of comprehension as their core interest,” Gerhard Lauer, Professor of German, explains. “Research has shown for quite some time now that the frequently asserted opposition between hermeneutic understanding and scientific explanation only scratches the surface of more complex processes at work. The opposition still reverberates in the humanities where certain research areas partially distance themselves from empirical sciences such as the neurosciences, cognitive sciences, or comparative behavioral biology. However, there have been some research efforts recently to establish dialogues between the previously separate disciplines.” Lauer initiated the workshop together with Holmer Steinfath, Professor of Philosophy.
As Professor Lauer remarked, "investigating the cognitive preconditions of comprehension is a productive way to develop common research interests because these preconditions can be studied empirically and become the subject of terminological and hermeneutical clarification.” The primary focus of the research projects presented in the workshop was on the similarities and differences between terms, concepts, and methods. Workshop participants also discussed the possibilities for cooperation across disciplinary boundaries.