Is language-type transcendentalism conceivable?

Abstract

We pursue the goal to give an outline of the problem that lies at the intersection of philo­sophy of language, linguistics, psychology and such a section of mathematics as topo­logy. The problem consists in the necessity to take into account the interrelation and inter­action of ideas related to these disciplines when analyzing the role and status of language in cognitive processes. We proceed from the assumption that since language and its at­tributes are most directly determined by socio-cultural factors and the dominant activity of the subject, it is reflected in the grammatical features of language, writing style and ap­plied fonts (scripts). Language peculiarities, writing style, and fonts (their topology) have a certain impact on the cognitive process and its results. Therefore, the activity-type of transcendentalism can be supplemented by linguistic-type transcendentalism, since language proficiency is included in the subject’s cognitive potential and language acts as an active participant of the cognition process, as well as determines some contours of the cognition result. Besides, the procedures of enculturation, differing in individualis­tic (Western) and collectivistic (Eastern) societies, imprint on the languages adopted there, as well as on writing styles and font topologies. We claim that the hypothesis of lin­guistic relativity can be extended due to the existence and functionality of the SNARC-ef­fect. To be more precise, the dependence of the cognition process on the manner and style of written discourse in the form of a hypothesis of relativity to the topology of written scripts. The activity transcendentalism assumes, in the case of taking into account the role of language in cognition, a in the form of a linguistic kind of transcendentalism.