Chapter 2

Approaches to Communication
1. Objective
⁃ theories need to be validated
⁃ an objective test to find out if a theory is faulty
⁃ truth is singular and is accessible through unbiased sensory observation
⁃ scientists
2. Interpretive
⁃ assumes that multiple meanings or truths are possible
⁃ interpretive scholars

Ways of Knowing
⁃ epistemology: study of the origin, nature, method, and limits of knowledge
⁃ Scientists
• discovering truth
• truth is singular
• consider good theories to be those that are faithful representations of the way
the world really is
• image of theory as a mirror that reflects reality
• once a principle is discovered and validated, it will continue to hold true as long
as conditions remain relatively the same
⁃ Interpretive Scholars
• creating multiple realities
• truth as socially constructed through communication
• language creates social realities that are always in flux rather than revealing or
representing fixed principles
• we can never entirely separate the knower from the known

Human Nature
⁃ Scientists
• determinism: every move we make is the result of heredity and environment
• stress the forces that shape human behavior
• human conduct as occurring because of forces outside the individual’s
awareness
• causal explanations tend not to include appeals to mental reasoning or conscious
choice
⁃ Interpretive Scholars
• free will: every human act is ultimately voluntary
• focus on conscious choices made by individuals
• attribute a person’s action to conscious intent
• people are free agents who could decide to respond differently under an
identical set of circumstances
Highest Value
⁃ Scientists
• objectivity
• empirical evidence
• he doesn’t want his personal values to distort reality or confuse what is with
what he thinks ought to be
• effectiveness is concerned with successfully communicating information, ideas,
and meaning to others, also includes persuasion
⁃ Interpretive Scholars
• emancipation: liberation from any form of political, economic, racial, religious, or
sexual oppression
• aware of his own ideology and is not afraid to bring his values to bear upon a
communication text and come under scrutiny
• participation is concerned with increasing the possibility that all points of view
will affect collective decisions and individuals being open to new ideas

Purpose of Theory
⁃ Scientists
• universal laws
• pin down universal laws of human behavior that cover a variety of situations
• adopts a theory and then tests it to see if it covers everyone
⁃ Interpretive Scholars
• interpretive guides
• interpret a particular communication text in a specific context
• make sense of unique communication events

Why is it Important?
⁃ you can’t fully understand a theory if you aren’t familiar with its underlying assumptions
about truth, human nature, the purpose of the theory, and its values