American Pragmatism and Communication Research

<p>This monograph examines the past, present, and potential relationship between American pragmatism and communication research. The contributors provide a bridge between communication studies and philosophy, subjects often developed somewhat in isolation from each other.<br><br> Addressing topics, such as qualitative and quantitative research, ethics, media research, and feminist studies, the chapters in this volume:<br> *discuss how a pragmatic, Darwinian approach to inquiry has guided and might further guide communication research;<br> *advocate a functional view of communication, based on Dewey's mature notion of transaction;<br> *articulate a pragmatist's aesthetics and connect it to Deweyan democracy;<br> *discuss the similarities and differences between Dewey's notion of inquiry and the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer;<br> *apply accommodation theory, linked to symbolic interactionism and more generally to the social behaviorism of George H. Mead and his followers, to media research;<br> *interpret media-effects evidence in light of pragmatist ideas about inquiry; and <br> *argue that pragmatism theorizes about despair and life's sense of the tragic. <br><br> This book is written to be readily accessible to students and professional academics within and outside the field of communication studies without extensive training in specialized areas of communication study.</p> <p><b>Contents: </b>Preface. <b>P. Simonson,</b> Varieties of Pragmatism and Communication: Visions and Revisions From Peirce to Peters. <b>V.E. Cronen, J. Chetro-Szivos,</b> Pragmatism as a Way of Inquiring With Special Reference to a Theory of Communication and the General Form of Pragmatic Social Theory. <b>W. Woodward,</b> Transactional Philosophy and Communication Studies. <b>W.J. Leonhirth,</b> William James and the Uncertain Universe. <b>J. Jensen,</b> Art, the Public, and Deweyan Cultural Criticism. <b>R.T. Craig,</b> Dewey and Gadamer on Practical Reflection: Toward a Methodology for the Practical Disciplines. <b>J.S. Horne,</b> Truth or Consequences: Pragmatism, Relativism, and Ethics. <b>T. Meyer,</b> Pragmatism and Mediated Communication. <b>D.K. Perry,</b> Shattering the Mirror: Linking Media-Effects Research and American Pragmatism. <b>S. Shuler, M. Tate,</b> Intersections of Feminism and Pragmatism: Possibilities for Communication Theory and Research. <b>T.L. Jacobson,</b> Habermas, Dewey, and Pragmatism. <b>G.J. Shepherd,</b> Pragmatism and Tragedy, Communication and Hope: A Summary Story.</p>