Beyond the Symbol Model: Reflections on the Representational Nature of Language presents arguments on several sides of the contemporary debate over the representational nature of language. Contributors include philosophers, linguists, psychologists, semioticians, and communication theorists from the U. S., Canada, Britain, Northern Ireland, and Israel. The chapters respond to the argument that language can no longer be viewed as a system of signs or symbols, and that a post-semiotic account can be developed from the recognition that language is first and foremost constitutive articulate contact. Three chapters extend this argument, two frame it historically, three disagree, and one contextualizes the "beyond enterprise" itself. The book is a companion volume to Language as Articulate Contact: Toward a Post-Semiotic Philosophy of Communication. These two books contribute to the ongoing conversation about the nature of language that is strongly influencing theory and research in virtually all the human studies.

Metaphor is much more than just a linguistic phenomena, argues Gemma Corradi Fiumara, it is in fact the key process by which we construct and develop our ability to understand the world and the people we share it with. Rationality as understood by philosophers has led to a disembodied view of ourselves in which interaction between life and language has been downplayed. By looking at the metaphoric process - in an interpersonal rather than a formal way - its importance in allowing us access to new worlds of experience is revealed. The metaphoric potential in us all exposes us to the world and initiates our involvement in it.

This interdisciplinary conversation discusses the nature of language.

This volume contains mainly the revised versions of papers presented at the wo- shop '98, "Beyond the Notation", that took place in Mulhouse, France on June 3-4, 1998. We thank all those that have made this possible, and particularly all the people in Mulhouse that worked hard to make this meeting a success, with such a short delay between the announcement and the realization. We are specially grateful to Nathalie Gaertner, who put in a tremendous amount of effort in the initial preparation of the workshop. We were pleasantly surprised of the quality of the submitted material and of the level of the technical exchanges at the Mulhouse meeting. More than one hundred attendees, from about twenty different countries, representing the main actors in the UML research and development scene, gathered in Mulhouse for two full study days. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to the authors of submitted - pers, the editorial committee for this volume, the program committee for the initial workshop, the external referees, and many others who contributed towards the final contents of this volume. April 1999 Jean Bézivin Pierre-Alain Muller

Our species has been hunting for meaning ever since we departed from our cousins in the evolutionary tree. We developed sophisticated forms of communication. Yet, as much as they can convey meaning and foster understanding, they can also hide meaning and prevent comprehension. Indeed, we can never be sure that a "yes" conveys assent or that a smile reveals pleasure. In order to ascertain what communicative behavior "means", we have to go through an elaborate cognitive process of interpretation. This book deals with how we achieve the daily miracle of understanding each other. Based on the author ’s contributions to pragmatics, the book articulates his perspective using the insights of linguistics, the philosophy of language and rhetoric, and confronting alternatives to it. Theory formation is shaped by application to fields of human activity – such as legal practice, artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, the media, literature, aesthetics, ethics and politics – where interpretation and understanding are paramount. Using an accessible language, this is a book addressed to specialists as well as to anyone interested in interpreting understanding and understanding the potentialities and limits of interpretation.

With this revised version of his Models of Jesus, O'Grady makes available a classic work that offers an extensive treatment of various models of Jesus that are not only possible, but actual in the church today. The author first surveys models of Jesus in the New Testament, then examines six contemporary models of Jesus.

This second and extended edition of Priest's classic includes new chapters on Heidegger and Nagarjuna, as well as reflections on reactions to the first edition. Praise for previous edition: "a splendid tour de force, one which should be read by every philosopher..."--Philosophical Quarterly "[H]ighly entertaining and provocative...an engaging and instructive tour through some of the most perplexing features of our own conceptual finitude..."--TLS