Good Theory and Good Practice: An Argument in Progress

Abstract

This article is concerned with the question of what we might take to be good communication theory and good communication practice within a new paradigm. The metatheoretical assumptions of this new paradigm are used to show that the setting aside of truth in favor of morality is one of its radical distinguishing features. It is then argued that the practical moral basis for evaluating communication needs to reside in how the process affects our human experience and what it affords us in the choices we have available and the opportunities for action. Four criteria are generated out of an understanding of communication in this new paradigm: constitutiveness, contextualness, diversity, and incompleteness. The article focuses on how these criteria might be used to make judgments about good and bad communication theory and practice.