Communication Theory: Epistemological Foundations

by James A. Anderson

This book provides a thorough analysis of the scientific, critical, and cultural questions at the foundation of theory-building in communication and other social sciences. Any claim to knowledge, the author explains, can be analyzed in terms of a series of characteristics: the object of its explanation, the explanatory form and evidentiary method employed, its characteristic explanations, the scope of its performance, and its consequences of value. From identifying basic epistemological questions to exploring the impact of the "knowledge industry" on society, the volume offers readers the analytical tools to understand, compare, and evaluate theories and their use both inside and outside the classroom. The book also includes a systematic analysis of communication's most influential theories and traces their genealogies across different content fields and disciplines.

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another dense book which helps unpack the variety of philosophical foundations of the Communication discipline. He often tells random and often dirty jokes in his text, but for the most part he is straight forward in his explanations.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoa- 4 stars for amount of information packed into a text, 2 for readability. As a non-philospher this was a big step for me. On the bright side: I now use "ontological" and "epistemological" with full comfort. This guy is a genius. I'm sure I'll be re-reading him for ages.