Presupposition

What is presupposition

Presupposition is a semantic component of a text that reflects a person's preliminary knowledge when encountering any linguistic construction, either written or spoken. In simple words, it is an axiom of reality that is created by almost any phrase. This hypothesis, or knowledge, often serves as background information that is not consciously recognized by the individual but instead accepted as a given fact about the surrounding world. However, when analyzing or debating a statement, the presupposition can be identified and used, for example, as evidence or underlying meaning.

For example, meaning of the phrase "Fred's son failed his exam at school again." Several presuppositions can be derived from this: First, Fred has a son. Secondly, he has already failed the exam since the speech structure contains the word "again." Thirdly, this boy (and he is a boy since there is a word for "son") goes to school.

Thus, a single sentence can identify three statements that form its foundation. It's important to note that a presupposition is not always true; it can also be false. For example, the person talking about Fred's son might be mistaken, and the boy may have long been studying at a university, or he might have received an average grade, which the parents, due to personal beliefs, consider as "failing."

Initially, the definition of presuppositions came from philosophical logic to describe the "core" of a judgment. Today, it is known that presuppositions serve several functions:

• Reflecting subjective judgments about the world, acting as a tool for understanding a person's perception;

• Conveying facts and hidden messages that are mainly processed unconsciously and often unnoticed;

• Reinforcing ideas, attitudes, and rules, especially if the presupposition is consciously formulated to influence a person's actions or way of thinking.

Important! Presupposition should not be confused with concepts such as implicature or assertion. An implicature refers to hidden information in a text that is implied but not directly expressed. On the other hand, an assertion is a word or part of a phrase whose meaning changes when negated. In contrast, a presupposition remains unchanged, even if the statement shifts from an affirmative to a negative form.

Types of presuppositions

From a linguistic and logical standpoint, presuppositions can be categorized into several types:

• Semantic presupposition. A presupposition that ensures the sentence conveys a specific and understandable meaning. As mentioned earlier, it can be either a positive presupposition or a false presupposition, but direct confirmation of whether it's positive or false is only possible when it's a semantic presupposition.

• Existential presupposition. This presupposition carries general knowledge about the structure of the world and reality as a whole. For example, "Washington is the capital of the United States," which provides geographic knowledge and acknowledges the existence of Washington and the United States. Existential presuppositions can be regarded as evidence that something exists.

• Pragmatic presupposition. This situational presupposition occurs when one person shares a previously unknown fact with another. For example: "- Fred's wife gave birth today. "Does Fred have a wife?!"

• Communicative presupposition. This is always indirect knowledge that describes the subjective relations of the participants in communication or the interlocutor's personality. In this regard, pragmatic presupposition most often occurs in personal communication. For example, the phrase "Maybe I should dance in front of you, huh?" immediately reflects negative relationships between the people involved.

Presupposition in linguistics is seen as a component of a speech construction used to study sentence structure, associative connections between linguistic units, and the language systems of specific societies and cultures, as presuppositions appear differently in various languages.

Presupposition in psychology

Presupposition in psychology is the process of influencing a person's subconscious to alter or correct their behavior or thinking in the desired way.

Likewise, presupposition in advertising is employed, where the goal is always the same: to encourage the purchase of a specific product from a particular company. Thus, a presupposition can be considered a disguised command or suggestion, as it reflects reality-even if false.

For instance, the phrase "What time are we meeting tomorrow?" presupposes that the two individuals are meeting tomorrow, leaving no room for disagreement or the word "no." Because the subconscious perceives this as a statement of fact, it becomes psychologically more challenging for the person to decline, increasing the likelihood of agreement and thus ensuring a successful meeting or sale in the case of marketing. This same technique is used by a sales manager when asking a customer in a store, "Will you pay with card or cash?" even though the person hasn't yet said, "I'll take it."

Using presupposition, you can get information about a person's perception and better understand their ideas about the world and internal value system. For example, if someone says, "I'm lucky again," they feel fortunate and happy. The same is true after defeat: "Here we go again, damn it!"

By using presupposition, you can also uncover a person's genuine opinion about a situation or someone else. For instance, you might ask, "Why do you treat George so well?" In this case, the presupposition could be intentionally false, as you may already sense that the person does not actually treat George well. This phrasing makes it easier to confirm the truth than if you were to ask directly, "Why do you treat George poorly?" A direct question might trigger a defensive reaction or a sense of shame, leading the person to deny their negative attitude. However, with the false presupposition in the original question, they are more likely to respond with something like, "Pfft, why would you think I treat him well? He irritates me."

Thus, in psychology, the presupposition is most often built based on interrogative words, such as "why," "for what," "why," "where," etc. These can also be evaluative words ("strange," "wrong," "good"), words of awareness ("understand," "know"), words of sequence ("first," "first"), or a false choice technique ( "Will you wash the dishes before the movie or after?"). Psychology can use presuppositions to control behavior and comprehend a person's reality.

Interesting! The presupposition is used similarly in advertising, as modern marketing heavily relies on psychology. For instance, the slogan "Try how delicious it is!" contains the presupposition-fact that the food is tasty, leaving no room for doubt. Journalists use similar tactics when creating headlines, such as "Why are Norwegians so happy?" or "Why did aliens build the Egyptian pyramids?"

Presuppositions in NLP

The understanding of presuppositions in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) differs significantly from their use in other fields and sciences. Thus, presuppositions can still be used here as a tool to facilitate the achievement of the desired effects from NLP techniques and techniques; that is, these will be ordinary presuppositions from psychology that are only involved in interpersonal communication. At the same time, NLP presuppositions structure the system of using and teaching NLP. In this sense, NLP experts refer to presuppositions as rules of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, its principles, or a set of positive statements (affirmations) that underpin all techniques for influencing thinking and behavior.

The British NLP trainer Jane Revell was one of the first to interpret presuppositions in an unusual way, expanding their application range. In other words, these are not laws but assumptions that must be understood and mastered before using NLP techniques. Thus, these assumptions are called "basic presuppositions." There are ten in total - the list you will find in the section below.

Examples of basic presuppositions

Basic presuppositions-axioms or dogmas of NLP-are based on all intentions of NLP and its approach to building interpersonal relationships within its context. Here are the most important and well-known of them and what they mean.

1. The map is not the territory

In this context, the map refers to the perception of reality, while the territory is reality itself. This belief suggests that each person perceives reality (i.e., draws their "map") differently, and often, these perceptions differ significantly from the actual state of things. One person's map may be entirely unlike another's. Considering this presupposition in NLP is essential as it teaches flexibility and adapting techniques to the individual characteristics of each person. Additionally, the broader your map, the more objectively you perceive the world and the people around you, i.e., it depends on the breadth of your outlook and tolerance for change.

2. Mind and body are components of one system

Determining whether the mind depends on the body or the body on the mind is akin to debating which came first-the chicken or the egg. Since it's impossible to say definitively, this principle states that you enhance the other by improving one. The correlation between these two components is mutual, so it doesn't matter which one you act upon-the first or the second.

3. Life and thinking are systemic processes

Similarly to how the mind and body are interconnected, thinking depends on lifestyle, and lifestyle depends on thinking. You can work with one to change the other just as effectively. For example, you can use NLP to change habits, take relevant courses, and attend webinars. Ultimately, thanks to this, your life could follow an entirely new path. Alternatively, when circumstances force someone into a situation where they can no longer afford bad habits, their life changes, and their thinking follows suit.

4. There are no failures-only feedback and experience

This NLP presupposition suggests that we shouldn't judge events as "good" or "bad" but instead as "appropriate" or "inappropriate." It also implies the ability to accumulate experience and constructively process mistakes, drawing benefits from them. This helps a person achieve more effective and lasting results in both NLP and life.

5. The intention behind every action is always positive

This postulatione is often criticized, as it claims that even the most brutal action carries a positive intention. In other words, a person's intentions are always positive, even if that positivity is directed solely toward themselves. Understanding this presupposition helps one grasp the motives and reactions of others, thus enabling better interactions since all people naturally strive for good.

6. The meaning of communication is in the reaction it evokes.

Any words or actions generate a particular attitude toward a situation or interlocutor, and this attitude is not always what you expect when initiating communication. People can perceive the same statement differently, so it's important to seek individual approaches and aim to provoke a specific reaction, not just relay information. To achieve the desired reaction, you first need to identify the words that can lead to it and use them. You are always responsible for the reaction you cause, even if it wasn't your intention.

7. Any behavior is always the best choice a person had at that moment

This presupposition teaches us not to feel guilty for behaving in a particular "wrong" way, as our brain determines our reaction and behavior before we even process the incoming request. Our behavior is a set of instincts, deep-rooted beliefs, and impulses. These can be changed by working on them, but this is a lengthy and purposeful process. At the moment, you continuously behave on the information and experiences you have, so any reaction you have is the most constructive and correct for you at that time. This understanding is also essential when others behave differently than you expected, helping to build long-term relationships.

8. To describe a system, you must step outside it. To change a system, you need to be within it

This presupposition means that to influence something, you must be not outside but inside the system. The system can be anything-a family, a work team, a bank, a community of interests, etc. If you need to identify patterns and weaknesses or strengths, you must step outside the system and look at it from the outside.

9. The most flexible element controls the system

It is commonly believed that the leader must be the strongest, but according to NLP principles, this is not true: the leader must be the most flexible. Flexibility is adapting, changing, establishing diverse connections, and quickly finding solutions without becoming trapped by outdated tools or situations. Therefore, developing flexibility is critical to managing any system and achieving your goals within it.

10. Our world is friendly and abundant

Most people believe the world is inherently hostile and dangerous, and they approach it with the mindset that it must be conquered, suppressed, or dominated over circumstances, trends, markets, other people, and so on. However, the essence of the world is abundant in everything: in both bad and good things, in injustices and fairness, in risks and opportunities. You can view the world as aggressive or friendly, and according to this presupposition, this will determine the events you will encounter most frequently. Simply put, the world is what we perceive it to be, so it's essential to focus on the things that matter to you.

There are also many other presuppositions in NLP, such as:

• For the mind, there is no difference between imagining something and experiencing it in reality.

• Having a choice is always better than not having it.

• Changes happen instantly; your life changes when you realize the need for it.

• We are controlled by what we are unaware of (therefore, tracking even the most minor factors influencing us is crucial since they predetermine everything, including our well-being).

• Your nervous system encodes all your experiences (which is why your brain determines your behavior and reactions, but it can be controlled).

• Everyone has all the necessary resources for change from the very beginning.

Conclusion

Even though presupposition initially emerged as a scientific tool for studying linguistics, today, this concept has already gone beyond the boundaries of its scientific definition. Presuppositions are a vital part of psychotherapeutic practices and are used in coaching to study the client's behavior better and satisfy their needs. The masterful management of presupposition also lies at the heart of modern advertising and marketing. Curiously, people often do not even realize that they use presuppositions in their speech and encounter them every day. At the same time, in NLP, presuppositions have a completely different meaning; they are positive and resourceful statements and ways of thinking that help you use neurolinguistic programming techniques and achieve your goals effectively. Despite their complexity and subtlety, presuppositions are incredibly useful and versatile.