Abstract
The study of communication is usually treated as a social scientific discipline. At the same time, it is often placed under the aegis of the ‘human science’, suggesting it is a discipline within the humanities. Hence, the objective of this presentation is to delineate the nature and scope of communication as a social science per se.
To this end, the analytical method is used, which goes back to the ancient Greek philosophy; for instance, in the dialogues of Plato, Socrates is concerned with delineating the meaning of key concepts such as ‘justice’ and ‘soul’. This presentation, based on the ideas from Plato and Aristotle to Compte to Mead to Habermas, views communication as a social science by identifying such unifying concepts as ‘individual’, ‘social relations’, ‘rules’, ‘norms’, and ‘phronesis’ – the activity in which action coincides with a person’s internal goal.
It is argued that we should problematize the study of communication further and focus on what makes us human by investigating what is created through poesies, i.e., something produced outside of oneself through techne. While phronesis belongs to praxis as communicative action and is studied by social science, poesies and techne lie at the basis of culture whereby something meaningful is brought into existence from without through various expressions. Thus, the main output of the presentation is addressing the study of communication as a social science while paving the way to viewing it as a humanities discipline.
Author Information
Igor Klyukanov, Eastern Washington University, United States
Galina Sinekopova, Eastern Washington University, United States
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