Conversation as emergent function

Abstract

In this chapter we suggest that the clearest shortcoming in scientific work is the failure to take account of complexity and the emergent functions that derive from it. Specifically we will explain the notion of conversation as one of these functions generated from the interaction of many elements that, in turn, are functions of other emergent interactions. Breaking down the analysis of conversation into elements does not allow us to see how conversation has arisen from interactions with other functions, the environment, etc. For this reason, we have to expand our perspective in order to study it. Unknotting the tangle of underlying interactions is often impossible or at least extremely difficult. A multidisciplinary approach and the convergence of scientific viewpoints can offer avenues for us to develop conceptions more in line with the perspective of complexity. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.