Tools of deconstruction? : understanding disaster aetiology through cognitive theory - a case study of the Vincennes incident.

Bibliography: p. 50-55

This paper has two objectives. First, through a 'case study' of the destruction by a United States warship, the USS Vincennes, of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf, it evaluates the utility of three theories of human cognition as 'tools of deconstruction' with regard to the aetiology of disaster. Secondly, the paper employs the theories of heuristics, paradigms and social schema to develop a fuller understanding of the dynamics of the incident. The decisions and action of the Captain and crew of the USS Vincennes are analysed in the context of the historical and current circumstances of the encounter with the Iranian airliner, and it is questioned whether an erroneous construction of the actions (or in-actions) of the Iranian airliner crew by them may have led to the destruction of the airliner by sea-launched missile. The paper concludes that historical and current circumstances may generate a perception (or construction) of events that is, to a greater or lesser degree, inaccurate and that such perceptions may lead to disaster