Communication Studies, Normative Justice, and Amalgamating Traditions of Inquiry

Abstract

Communication Studies scholars tend to be dialogical-dialectical and so are generally able to productively talk across multiple traditions of inquiry. As I argue in this paper, a study of justice requires this type of approach. After discussing classical notions of dialogical argumentation, the critique of rhetoric, and their modern counterparts, I identify several key elements of dialogical-dialectical reasoning. I then demonstrate how this kind of approach emphasize consideration, deliberation, assertion, the giving and taking of reason, concern with the nature of reasoning, and points to the ethical evaluation of political practices.