Deep logic and the problem of schematization

Abstract

The article is an extended version of the paper for the round table discussion “Process Logic and Philosophy of Consciousness” devoted to the key ideas of A.V. Smirnov. The paper deals with two topics: the problem of logical and the problem of the connec­tion between deep logic and linguistic-specific cognitive development. The author criti­cizes the widespread reduction of “logical” to university logic and proposes to understand A.V. Smirnov’s logic-sense theory as a program of analysis of the intuitions and proce­dures underlying particular kinds of logic. The distinction between substantive logic and process logic, put forward within this theory, is analyzed in the light of schema theory. The article argues the following: 1) an essential contribution to our cognitive develop­ment is made by innate, as well as sensorimotor schemas formed in the process of onto­genesis and cultural learning; 2) they are proto-representations, which have immanent logic (logical visibility), multimodality and automaticity; 3) the difference between sub­stantive logic and process logic, is due to the dominance of one of the schemas (container vs. action) due to acquisition of language and other cultural practices; 4) this distinction is not only ontogenetic but also permanent, i.e. it is maintained in real time through im­plicit verbalizations, or “inner speech”; 5) the historical appearance of these schemes in language and cultural practices and the dominance of one of them is due to the specifics of human corporality and its embodiment in structurally organized reality.