Transcending 
 the 
 Conceptual Symbolic 
 Code 


a hierarchy of information processing is proposed, with the provisionally highest level being the symbolic reasoning that distinguishes humans from animals. This level is based on an abstract language of thought or “code”, consisting of concepts represented by symbols and a syntactical mechanism for combining these concepts into new expressions. The main shortcoming of this conceptual-symbolic (CS) mechanism is that it reduces the continuous experience of reality to a number of discrete, to some degree arbitrary, elements. Different intellectual approaches have attempted to overcome this limitation: science, philosophy, art, mysticism and empathy. Science tries to define concepts more universally; philosophy to fill in the conceptual holes; art to express non-symbolic, connotative meanings; mysticism to produce a non-analytic consciousness; and empathy to overcome the impossibility of communicating nonsymbolic meanings. In each case, a first stage merely managed to extend and deepen existing CS codes. In a second stage, thinkers became aware of the intrinsic relativity of this cognitive mechanism, thus setting the first steps towards transcending its limitations. It is proposed that future theoretical, social and technological developments will further integrate these emerging insights by means of a non-symbolic, “structural” language, thus creating a truly meta-CS level of consciousness and cognition. Preface to the 2014 edition This text is an English translation of my first truly academic article, which was published in Dutch in 1984. It originally appeared in “O”: Tijdschrift Voor Filosofische Beproevingen, issue 7, pp. 119–142. This was a local, Brussels-based philosophical magazine with a postmodern, rather irreverent bent, which only lasted a few years and was not widely distributed. The paper has never been republished, although a shorter version of some of the main ideas appeared as (Heylighen, 1991). Still, the ideas presented herein are at the basis of my later work on distinction dynamics and the structural language, which uses a somewhat different terminology (invariant “distinctions” rather than rigid “concepts”, and “metasystem transition” rather than “transcendence”). It also lacks the applications to art, mysticism and empathy presented in the original article. Therefore, I wanted to make the original available to a non-Dutch speaking audience. I have used the occasion of the translation to add references and an abstract, and make a few minimal edits for clarification and readability. Apart from the fact that it lacks any reference to the world-wide web (which was only created in 1991), the paper is remarkably up to date in its suggestion of a future cognitive transition supported by information technology. The only fundamental difference with my later work on the transition towards a Global Brain