Ehrenfeld, John R., "Developing a Communication-Oriented Ontology for Using Computer Modeling in Negotiation", 1990
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Computers have been used as tools to facilitate complex negotiations and to resolve disputes that arise in that context. These past efforts have been limited by a view of both negotiation and of computers arising out of out pervasive technical rationality paradigm. This paper, an initial inquiry onto a new ontology for design, suggests an alternative model for negotiation and disputes based on an interpretive, communicative model that points to a richer set of possibilities for computers than merely the provision of information to the parties involved. In particular, the concepts of communicative rationality, developed primarily by Habermas, point to specific functions for computers in assisting the parties in establishing claims in rational domains beyond the positivist domain of technical rationality.