Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Heringer

Leseproben - How to improve your understanding

2. Maxims or methods

Trainings of understanding mostly emphasize the role of knowledge. For example intercultural training programmes often transmit facts about other cultures. Normally this type of knowledge is conceived as an arsenal for future communication. But however big the arsenal would be, it would still be to small. It would be more reasonable to develop some general communicative faculties that would work in different cases. And furthermore, faculties of understanding do not only seem to be a question of knowing that, but also of knowing how, or even of communicative attitude. So it would be worthwhile to give the learner some pieces of communicative advice such as the following:
Accept that your partner does not use the words just in the same way as you do.
Accept that your partner does not have the same experiences and the same knowledge background as you have.
Be on the alert that your expectations may lead you astray.
Audiatur et altera pars! How would your partner see things?
Couldn't your partner be right? What speaks in favour of it?
Do not easily suppose that your partner contradicts himself or acts inconsistently.
Check that your understanding is not inconsistent.
Do not tacitly assume motives or intentions for which you have no evidence.
These maxims sound quite general and normative. The question is how they could be ethically founded and justified to apply to all cases and people. Should I not have the right to be realistic and to call somebody inconsistent who really is?
Maxims for understanding should emerge from communication. They should constitute the generally accepted aim of communication, its essence so-to-speak. Wouldn't Gricean maxims do the job we can ask. Yes, they would. It is now almost clear that Gricean maxims are not norms that we can follow or infringe. They are the rock bottom of communication, we follow them without knowing it. Even when lying and apparently violating them, both partners have to assume that the maxim of informativeness and of sincerity is followed in a certain way because whithout this a lie would not be understood. Even in a society of liars the maxim of truthtelling must prevail.
Mostly, in more complicated cases, it is assumed that we reflect in order to come to an understanding. For example, when the wording cannot be understood literally we start from the literal sense and compute the real sense by looking at the context, at the situation and at our mutual belief.
Gricean reasoning spells out the ways in which the recipient arrives at meaning. However this is not done explicitly, rather we are supposed to come to the resolution silently, without further reflection and sometimes as our first choice.
In short, Gricean maxims cannot be infringed upon. But - and this is the value and effect of scrutinizing them - we often assume that our partner is not clear and informative, does not speak orderly and is not willing to be cooperative. Is it not quite usual to tacitly assume that your partner is gossipy, that he or she does not speak in an adequate manner and not in the right order, and even that he is mentally deficient!
As soon as we do not assume the maxims to be infringed upon, our understanding of somebody's acts will change and we often come to an understanding that seems more reasonable, more realistic and simply better.
Against their overt form and widespread interpretation, the maxims are valid for both speakers and recipients, they regulate communication both action and understanding. So it is worthwhile reformulating the maxims into a form that gives some advice to the recipient. Therefore the recipient should realize that communication works on Gricean maxims. She should hold in mind principles of understanding such as:
Be aware that your partner is informative. It is you who has to grasp the information he wants to give.
Be aware that your partner is relevant. It is you who has to work out or elaborate why he acts the way he acts and what this means.
Be aware that your partner speaks perspicuously and orderly. It is you who has to grasp why he speaks in this order and what does it mean to him.
Maxims of this type are essential for good understanders. They are general principles that guide your understanding. But in special cases, they don't give you hints on how to arrive at a correct interpretation or at one that may satisfy you. For this you need ways and methods that guide you ,because nobody will be able to follow the global maxims in each and every case quite spontaneously. The application of the maxims in normal communication is a complicated matter that needs time and reflection. In normal communication you must be fast and without reflection on the ongoing process. Therefore you must be prepared and trained. What you need is: maxims and methods.