Ego transcendence in postmodern perspective

Based on the author's previous specification of the conventional ego mind as the primary barrier to “realization of the ground of consciousness,” postmodern perspectives on the ego mind barrier are compared with premodern and modern approaches. Postmodernists view the ego as a socio‐linguistic construct. Modern assumptions of consistent subjectivity and a unitary self or identity are rejected, and reduction of the ego mind barrier to transcendence is seen to follow from exploration of alternative self‐concepts. This perspective is manifest in theories of “possible selves” and in the contrast between formulations such as the “saturated self vs. the “empty self.” Though forms of ego transcendence likely in postmodern cultures will differ from those in premodern cultures, many of the same functions will be served, as may be observed in such phenomena as “ecomysticism.”     

Speaker knowledge influences the comprehension of pragmatic inferences

Inferring what speakers mean from what they say requires consideration of what they know. For instance, depending on the speaker's level of expertise, uttering Some squirrels hibernate can imply that not all squirrels hibernate, or it might imply the weaker proposition that the speaker does not know whether all squirrels hibernate. The present study examines the extent to which speaker knowledge influences implied meanings as well as the timing of any such influence. Using a self-paced presentation, participants read sentences containing some in contexts where a speaker should know whether all was true, or where the speaker merely might know whether all was true. This knowledge manipulation was found to have immediate and reliable effects on the type of inference that was drawn. In contrast, knowledge played no role when the same meanings were conveyed literally. This work thus demonstrates that perceivers consider the speaker's knowledge state incrementally to establish the speaker's communicative goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).