Introductory Comments (2015)

In Habermas view the kind of reconstruction that he offers with his writings requires empirical support from being tested against our experiential world as well as against scientific resarch. In 2008 published Michael Tomasselo his Origins of Human Communication, that answers in an impressive way this need. Therefor, it is more than incidental that Jürgen Habermas has given the ‘laudatio’ when on the 16th of December 2009 Tomasello has been awarded the Hegel-price by the city of Stuttgart. More recent are Tomasello’s Why we Cooperate (2009, in German translation Warum wir kooperieren 2010), and his A Natural History of Human Thinking (2014). All the mentioned books appear to have a somewhat philosophical approach. Indeed, but they are definitely more than mere theoretical constructs. Who reads the earlier book of Tomasello Constructing a Language. A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition, becomes aware of the fact that his books are fed by and based upon an incredibly rich array of empirical and experimental research (of himself and of others). Among many other important things that these researches make clear about the constituents of social interaction between humans, they offer strong arguments in favor of considering language use as such a constituent. I have been struck by the ‘match’ (in many ways) of the outcomes of Tomasello’s work with Habermas’ reconstruction of the structural features of social interaction. (The text of Habermas’ laudatio can be found on the  following website: www.Habermasforum.dk). See for more about their agreements and their differences Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie, volume 1, pp. 227-245, where Habermas’ very instructive treatment of the origin of language and of a social-cultural form of life can be found.

 CONTENT  ( in cursive: Eglish translation of Dutch or German titles )

I.1 Kommunikatief handelen, zelfreflektie en rationele rekonstruktie. Notities bij Habermas’onderzoeksprogramma . (Communicative Action, Self-Reflection and rational Reconstruction. Annotations on Habermas’s Researchprogram)
I.2 Kritische notities en voorstellen bij Habermas’grondslagenonderzoek. De dubbelzinnigheid van het  begrip ‘kommunikatief handelen. (Critical Annotations and Proposals regarding Habermas’s foundational Research. The Ambiguity of the Concept ‘communicative Action)
I.3 Conceptual Architecture of Social Science according to Habermas [2014]
I.4 Foundational Research as intermediate Function between everyday and socio-scientific Action. A Research Design.
I.5 On systematically Interlinking Experience and Analysis within a pragmatic Frame of Reference. A Habermasian contribution.
I.6 The categorical Framework of a Theory of Society and the Key Role attributed to Language.
I.7 Die Struktur einer Sprechhandlung in Habermas’ Forschungsprogramm.  Formale Analyse mit den Mitteln des tripolaren Modells. (The Structure of a Speechact in Habermas’ Researchprogram. Formal Analysis with the Means of the tripolar Model)
I.8 Reconstruction of Habermas’ Universal Pragmatics
I.9 Filosofische reconstructie en wiskundige representatie van Habermas’ maatschappijtheoretisch referentiekader (Philosophical Reconstruction and mathematical Representation of Habermas’ societal-theoretic Frame of Reference)
I.10 Characteristics of the formal Model of social Interaction
I.11 Reconstructing and Modeling Habermas’ conceptual Frame of social Interaction