The author of this article responds to the seven papers in this journal that commented on his book titled "Body Consciousness: A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics." Shusterman responds to comments and criticisms made on the subjects of (1) embodiment and gender; (2) Asian cultural dimensions; (3) the somaesthetics of music; (4)…

Justification offered by Steven Pinker for his theory that thought is independent of language, and that thought is couched in some silent medium of the brain ("Mentalese"), is outlined step by step and critiqued. It is argued that the theory ignores deep technical issues and is not explanatory. (MSE)

Argues that the speech communication scholar can contribute to the general study of communicative development, particularly to the investigation of strategic communication. Argues for attention to message strategies, but within the framework of the underlying cognitive and cultural structures through which they are created. (JMF)

Some of the metaphors that continue to guide educators' ways of understanding classroom life and education research have conceptual boundaries and limitations. These metaphors are referred to as Cartesian in order to locate them historically and within a cultural setting. The first type of metaphor serves as a conduit of language, in which…

Offers suggestions for using Marxist interpretations of dialectics to begin clarifying the act of rhetorical criticism. Considers three basic interpretations of the dialectic coexisting in the writings of contemporary Marxists: dialectics as a mode of thought, of description, and of discourse. (JMF)

The belief that writing can best be understood by understanding the mental processes that govern the production of discourse is questioned in this paper. Plato and Aristotle can form a theoretical base for rhetoric praxis that is democratic, diverse, and empowering. A reexamination of Plato's language underscores his belief that a person must know…

The educational use of computers is changing the way people think and steering culture toward a more functional and self-conscious form of literacy. This supposition is based in Walter Ong's theory of orality and literacy (maintaining that literacy caused a removal from immediate, everyday existence and enabled the development of an analytical…

The subjectivistic problem for knowledge and communication associated with philosopher Immanuel Kant is that everything we know may in fact be determined by the structure of our own minds and not by the actual nature of external reality. Ernst Cassirer's contribution to the solution of this problem is the notion of "symbols" produced by…

Using Susanne Langer's concepts of presentational and discursive symbolism, constructs a theory of text production that describes presentation and discourse and relations between them as major components in the evolution of text from thought to written language. Concludes by examining the implications of this theory for understanding students'…

Argues that the real problem in English education has nothing to do with its definitional scheme; instead the crisis is how to discriminate among practices that may be offered in the name of such a scheme. (HOD)

Argues that there are two misunderstandings of John Dewey's pedagogical and philosophical views: the erroneous assumption that Dewey favored an activity-oriented, child-centered approach to learning; and Dewey's view on the role of experience in knowledge acquisition. The article focuses on the practical and theoretical consequences that follow…

Composing written text in an educational context engages both students and teachers in struggles between convention and choice, resulting frequently in the negotiation of compromises with which neither teachers nor students feel comfortable. The linguistic traditions of a discipline are powerful determinants of the nature of the language in which…

A metaphor and ongoing debate of the information age is that the mind is a computer or that, conversely, the computer has a mind. Since the debate is conducted using anthropomorphic metaphors such as "intelligent,""memory," and "friendly" (terms from humanity), the language itself pressures the discussion towards the conclusion that computers will…

General theory of transfer of knowledge and skill in learning second languages and ways in which language awareness may contribute to second language learning are examined. It is concluded that while recent second language acquisition research work and theories do not support or refute transfer of general language principles to the learning of…

The paper examines the role of ethics in the pursuit of educational quality. The nature of ethics, creation of knowledge, language, and the concept of quality are discussed. These ideas are blended into a new epistemology (theory of knowledge) which allows students to probe philosophical questions as part of the educational process. Ethics are…