Ambivalence in the “New Positivism” for the Philosophy of Communication: The Problem of Communication and Communicating Subjects

Abstract

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.