Ambivalence in the “New Positivism” for the Philosophy of Communication

The Problem of Communication and Communicating Subjects

Bibliographic Data

ID13106147
AuthorsEd McLuskie (0009-0005-1144-6547, Boise State University, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume24
Issue1
Pages255-269
Publication date2001-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the International Communication Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2380-8977 • E-ISSN: 2380-8985
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23808985.2001.11678989
OpenAlexW2501481208
LanguageEN
References cited44

The philosophy of communication in the United States grew out of a reaction to positivist approaches to communication research, which had managed to render processes of communication anonymous through the eradication of the epistemological subject. Although the pursuits varied among founding proponents of a “philosophy of communication” within the International Communication Association, the concepts nevertheless displayed partisanship for conceptualizations of communication that included communicating subjects. After the early responses to positivism, however, a “new positivism” emerged that challenged that vision. Linked to postmodernist developments in other fields, it joined the old positivist skepticism that subtracted epistemological subjects from knowledge by suggesting a path that would subtract “communicating subjects” and even “communication” from the work of the “philosophy of communication.” Most recently, the new positivism has produced ambivalence over the prospects for communication with communicating subjects. In this essay the author concludes that this ambivalence signals a reconsideration of postmodern influences on the philosophy of communication, as well as the return of communication with communicating subjects

Ambivalence · Communication studies · Epistemology · Positivism · Postmodernism · Skepticism · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Social Psychology

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