Presupposition

When we humans communicate with each other through the use of a shared natural language our exchanges are, almost without exception, littered with presuppositions.

The actual words that we use when communicating convey explicitly only a portion of the meaning behind our communication. Much of the meaning present in our Deep Structures is not overtly mentioned in our Surface Structures, and is instead conveyed by presupposition alone, often leading to distortion of our experience.

For a fuller explanation of what presuppositions are, how to detect them and some of the ways in which they are so useful please visit the Presuppositions pages in the Persuasive Communication section of this website.

Our topic here is the types of Meta Model responses which are appropriate and useful for challenging the presuppositions in linguistic communication, and for that we'll begin with the following example:-

If my friend John realised how much they hurt my feelings, he would never have said those things.

Let's begin by exposing just a few of the possible presuppositions inherent in the above example:-

• There is a person named John who is a friend of the speaker
• John said some things to the speaker
• The things that John said hurt the speaker's feelings
• John didn't realise:-

        1. How much the speaker's feelings were hurt
        2. The hurt feelings were the result of the things which John said

• Had John realised that a. and/or b. were true he wouldn't have said those particular things

All of the above presuppositions could be true, but which of them are true?

The Meta Model response to this question might be 'true for whom?', or ' true in who's model of the world?', the speaker's model? John's model? Answering such questions is precisely what the Meta Model was designed for.

Meta Model questions appropriate for challenging the presuppositions in the above example could include:-

• How do you know he doesn't know how much your feelings were hurt?
• How do you know he wouldn't have said those things?
• How does friendship govern how people communicate with each other?

If we take the time to notice them the presuppositions inherent in a person's communication can provide insight into aspects of their world model which seemingly limit their choices with respect to behavioural flexibility.

Directly challenging the presuppositions inherent in a person's communication also challenges generalisations in their world model, causing them in turn to review, revise and ultimately enrich the model so that they have more options from which to choose how to behave.

There are several types of presuppositions:

• Existence:
  • "She saw the ice cream in the freezer." Implies is, was. may be.
• Time:
  • Before, after, during, continue, yet, already, begin, stop, start, still, while, since, as, and when. "You may hear noises in the room while you are entering a state of deep relaxation."
• Ordinals:
  • These assume action will be taken, the question is, in what order, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. "Do you want to take a deep breath or would you like to settle down into your chair first?"
• "Or":
  • "Would you prefer a silk blouse or one in cotton?" This presupposes that the listener wants a blouse. The question is which.
• Awareness:
  • These assume the statement is true, all that may be questioned is whether the listener is aware. "Have you realized how common it is to be in a trance?" "Have you noticed how often you go into a trance, even by yourself?"

Examples:

Sources: http://nlpglossary.blogspot.com/search/label/Presupposition