Non-Dualism and its Implications for Cognitive Science

This project consists of three sections, a philosophical one, an empirical-experimental one as well as a virtual- aesthetic one. First of all we will try to develop a middle-course between the epistemological antipodes of "realism" versus "idealism/ constructivism", trying to overcome the separation between "subject" and "object" that is predominate in these schools. The dualistic precondition (the a-priori-separation between subject and object, knower versus known etc.) will be reconstructed using Ludwig Wittgenstein`s late philosophy. We will focus on the link between "language" and "reality" at this point as well as on the difference between spoken and written language (orality versus literacy). A logical way of reasoning well be developed in order to show that language is not merely a tool for designating objects but rather the tool for constructing our (conventionally real) reality. This view harmonizes well with philosophical traditions like Advaita-Vedanta or Nagarjuna`s "middle-course". Jean Piaget`s studies of "realism of names" will provide further evidence to prove that a child moves slowly, step by step, from an a-dual to a more and more dualistic world-view. This transition could very well correlate with learning to read and write, the transition from "orality" to "literacy". A hypothesis that will be tested empirically. Out of a non-dualistic view it appears obvious that the object first is constructed as "X" in the course of a language-game and is only in a second step perceived as this "X". In order to underpin this statement empirically the transition from the childlike non-dualistic grasping of an object to the dualistic thinking can be traced. Finally reflections on "virtual reality" and (digital) arts will provide further access to a non-dualistic world-view, in which subject and object appear as inseparably united.