TY - JOUR

T1 - Practical theories

T2 - Concepts, conceptions, and conceptualizations of communication

AU - Jensen, Klaus Bruhn

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - This article revisits the place of normative and other practical issues in the wider conceptual architecture of communication theory, building on the tradition of philosophical pragmatism. The article first characterizes everyday concepts of communication as the accumulated outcome of natural evolution and history: practical resources for human existence and social coexistence. Such practical concepts have served as the point of departure for diverse theoretical conceptions of what communication is. The second part of the article highlights the past neglect and current potential of normative communication theories that ask, in addition, what communication ought to be, and what it could be, taking the relationship between communication and justice as a case in point. The final section returns to empirical conceptualizations of different institutions, practices and discourses of communication: In a pragmatist perspective, it is conceivable to study not only what communication is, but also what it could be, and what it ought to be.

AB - This article revisits the place of normative and other practical issues in the wider conceptual architecture of communication theory, building on the tradition of philosophical pragmatism. The article first characterizes everyday concepts of communication as the accumulated outcome of natural evolution and history: practical resources for human existence and social coexistence. Such practical concepts have served as the point of departure for diverse theoretical conceptions of what communication is. The second part of the article highlights the past neglect and current potential of normative communication theories that ask, in addition, what communication ought to be, and what it could be, taking the relationship between communication and justice as a case in point. The final section returns to empirical conceptualizations of different institutions, practices and discourses of communication: In a pragmatist perspective, it is conceivable to study not only what communication is, but also what it could be, and what it ought to be.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - theory and practice

KW - normative communication theory

KW - justice

KW - pragmatism

KW - history

KW - natural evolution

U2 - 10.1386/ejpc.7.2.143_1

DO - 10.1386/ejpc.7.2.143_1

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 143

EP - 156

JO - Empedocles: European journal for the philosophy of communication

JF - Empedocles: European journal for the philosophy of communication

SN - 1757-1952

IS - 2

ER -