The contribution of G. W. Leibniz's ‘cognitio symbolica’ theory to current debates on knowledge and communication management
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Diana Ingenhoff
Diana Ingenho (b. 1971) is an Associate Professor for Media and Communication Science at the University of Fribourg 〈diana.ingenho@unifr.ch〉. Her research interests include organizational communication, semiotics, issues and reputation management, and knowledge communication. Her major publications include
Issues Management in Multinational Corporations (2004); and ‘Trust through reputation — basic model and empirical evidence in e-business’ (2005, with S. Einwiller and A. Herrmann).
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to clarify the concepts of knowledge to develop a better theoretical understanding based on one of the eldest semiotic insights from one unfortunately often forgotten philosopher of modern semiotic: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). In his ‘Meditationes de Cognitione, Veritate, et Ideis’ (1684), he develops a systematical, dichotomous characterization of the different levels of knowledge acquisitions. According to his view, knowledge is essentially symbolic: it takes place in a system of representations which possesses language-like structures and which can be characterized on specific hierarchic levels from ‘dark knowledge’ (‘notio obscura’) up to ‘distinct knowledge’ (‘notio distincta’) to be distinguished by the criteria of recognizing and communicating the single elements (‘notarum notae’) constructing knowledge as a continuum.
From a semiotic point of view, the paper shows that the awareness of the hierarchy of knowledge intensity can supply a framework for conceptual analysis and modeling of knowledge creation processes. As a result, we actually should focus, not only in knowledge management, on the communication processes when creating knowledge. Leibniz shows the fundamental problem of decomposing knowledge in externalization processes, which is only possible by the use of symbols, needing clear explanations through symbols again. Therefore, organization should be concerned with the creation of shared representations and meaning systems with respect to different levels of explicitly as Leibniz showed us.
About the author
Diana Ingenho (b. 1971) is an Associate Professor for Media and Communication Science at the University of Fribourg 〈diana.ingenho@unifr.ch〉. Her research interests include organizational communication, semiotics, issues and reputation management, and knowledge communication. Her major publications include Issues Management in Multinational Corporations (2004); and ‘Trust through reputation — basic model and empirical evidence in e-business’ (2005, with S. Einwiller and A. Herrmann).
© Walter de Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- On ‘semiotics’ as naming the doctrine of signs
- The Homeric Hymn to Hermes: A journey across the continuum of paradox
- ‘Read my hands not my lips’: Untrained observers' ability to interpret children's gestures
- Application d'une méthode de linguistique textuelle au livre de Ruth
- Connotations in semiotic systems of visual art (through the example of works by M. A. Vrubel)
- Dyadic versus triadic sign models in functional and object-oriented computer programming paradigms
- Life and semiosis: The real nature of information and meaning
- The cybersemiotic model of communication: An evolutionary model of the threshold between semiosis and informational exchange
- The semiotics of ‘difference’ in Roentgen diagnosis
- Mythic algebra uses: Metaphor, logic, and the semiotic sign
- An interview with Peter Ladefoged
- An interview with Elizabeth Closs Traugott
- A note on life as meaning-making machinery
- The Palace of La Moneda: From the trauma of the Hawker Hunters to the therapy of the signs
- A multiculturalist approach to discourse theory
- Formal conditions for the significance-effect
- Decoding speech prosody in five languages
- From Umwelt to Mitwelt: Natural laws versus rule-governed sign-mediated interactions (rsi's)
- The contribution of G. W. Leibniz's ‘cognitio symbolica’ theory to current debates on knowledge and communication management
