Social Affordances and the Possibility of Ecological Linguistics

Abstract

This paper includes an effort to extend the notion of affordance from a philosophical point of view the importance of ecological approach for social psychology, ethics, and linguistics. Affordances are not always merely physical but also interpersonal and social. I will conceptualize affordance in general and social affordance in particular, and will elucidate the relation between intentional action and affordances, and that between affordances and free will. I will also focus on the relation between social institution and affordance. An extended theory of affordances can provide a way to analyze in concrete ways how social institution works as an implicit background of interpersonal interactions. Ecological approach considers social institution as the producer and maintainer of affordances. Social institutions construct the niches for human beings. Finally, I will argue the possibility of the ecological linguistics. Language is a social institution. The system of signs is the way to articulate and differentiate interpersonal affordances. Language acquires its meaning, i.e. communicative power in the interpersonal interactions, and interpersonal interactions, in turn, develop and are elaborated through the usage of signs. Communication is seen as never aimed to transmit inner ideas to others, but to guide and adjust the behaviors of others thorough articulating the affordance of responsible-ness.

Ecological Psychology and Social Psychology: It is Holt, or Nothing!

“…There is a long history of theoretical and empirical efforts exploring various aspects of that potential contribution, and results have appeared in piecemeal fashion throughout the psychological literature, as well as in two special issues of Ecological Psychology (May, 1996 andMay 2007; for an overview of the work, see also Good 2007;Kono 2009;and McArthur and Baron 1983). Unlike the approach proposed here, past attempts at integrating ecological and social psychology have typically started with principles related to the affordance concept.…”

“…The first point is likely due to the cursory nature of my original presentation, the second point I am in complete sympathy with. Hopefully at least some of their concerns have been addressed here Kono (2009),. while not explicitly agreeing or disagreeing with my thesis regarding Holt, rightly points out that ecological psychology has the potential to broaden social psychology, by placing its traditional domain of inquiry within a much broader context.…”

Laws and Conventions in Language-Related Behaviors

“…A central goal of much of this work has been to argue that linguistic events and other social events are directly perceived (e.g., Charles, 2009;Chemero, 2009;Fowler, 1986Fowler, , 1996Schmidt, 2007) and have affordances (Chemero, 2009;Heft, 2007;Kono, 2009;Schmidt, 2007). The analysis presented in this paper suggests that many language-related behaviors (e.g., entrainment) are directly perceived.…”

Nothingness and the Human Umwelt

“…Cultural objects are functionally needed elements on which perceiving the cultural, social, and societal practices rest and change, and only in this sense they carry meaning. Inspired from Gibson's concept of affordances, Tetsuya Kono (2009) similarly finds that humans alter the environment in order to change what the environment affords them. By keeping in control with the construction and reconstruction of our human niche Kono argues that humans simultaneously become autonomous beings.…”

“…By keeping in control with the construction and reconstruction of our human niche Kono argues that humans simultaneously become autonomous beings. "There is a circular and historical process between the alterations of the environment by human beings and the alterations of human beings by the altered environment" (Kono 2009). …”