Lynch2006

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Lynch2006
BibType ARTICLE
Key Lynch2006
Author(s) Michael Lynch
Title Cognitive activities without cognition? Ethnomethodological investigations of selected “cognitive” topics
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Research Methods, Cognition
Publisher
Year 2006
Language
City
Month
Journal Discourse Studies
Volume 8
Number 1
Pages 95–104
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/1461445606059559
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (ethno/CA) investigate many of the activities that are featured in the cognitive sciences. These include memory, learning, perception, and calculative activities. However, for ethno/CA such activities are not necessarily ‘cognitive’, and their investigation as activities does not necessarily require observation or speculation about what goes on within the mind or brain. This article briefly discusses three examples of nominal ‘cognitive’ activities: looking-for/seeing; failing to recall; and counting things and people. The discussion suggests how these examples can be understood and elucidated in a way that has little to do with any existing program in cognitive science. The modest aim of the article is not to persuade readers that ethno/CA can contribute to cognitive studies. Instead, I argue that ethno/CA offers a path not taken in cognitive science: a viable research program for investigating nominally ‘cognitive’ themes without trading in mentalistic notions of cognition.

Notes