The organon model is a model of communication by German psychologist and
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
Karl Ludwig Bühler Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
(1879 – 1963). It was published in German in 1934. and not translated into English until 1990. In it he defined the functions of communication according to which linguistic communication can be described. Bühler's work influenced the communication model of
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson (russian: Рома́н О́сипович Якобсо́н; October 11, 1896Kucera, Henry. 1983. "Roman Jakobson." ''Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America'' 59(4): 871–883. – July 18,
Buhler's model also apparently influenced
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (russian: Лев Семёнович Выго́тский, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; be, Леў Сямёнавіч Выго́цкі, p=vɨˈɡotskʲɪj; – June 11, 1934) was a Soviet psychologist, known for his work on ps ...
who, in discussing memory and goal-directed learning, wrote: "According to K. Buhler, speech thinks for us."
Bühler identified the following three communicative functions:
* the ''expressive function'' (''Ausdrucksfunktion'')
* the ''representation function'' (''Darstellungsfunktion'')
* the ''conative function'' (''Appellfunktion'', i.e. appealing function).
Background
Karl Bühler used the ''
Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
'' of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
as the basis for his remarks. Here,
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
refers to the word as an grc, ὄργανον, translit=órganon, lit=instrument, tool, organ, and thus to language as a whole as a tool, with which a person can communicate something to others about things. Bühler described this relationship as a 'three-foundations scheme': oneself - to the other - about things (einer - dem anderen - über die Dinge).
Bühler's organon model criticized the material thinking of behaviorism, which according to him had renewed the " flatus-vocis
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...