Defense Date

3-14-2008

Graduation Date

2008

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Communication and Rhetorical Studies

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Ronald C. Arnett

Committee Member

Calvin L. Troup

Committee Member

Janie Harden Fritz

Keywords

hermeneutics, listening, listening process

Abstract

This dissertation offers an alternative to the behaviorist understanding of the listening process inherent in the models developed by scholars such as Brownell, Wolvin and Coakley. Using mostly close-text analysis to examine the trends of the literature to date, this dissertation introduces the ideas of Gadamer on philosophical hermeneutics and Fuimara on the connections between listening and hermeneutics to the current discussion. This dissertation argues that the process actually starts when one makes the choice to listen. It distinguishes the choice to listen from the behaviorist concepts of willingness and attention and connects it to Gadamer's understanding of tradition and bias. This work presents a hermeneutical model of the listening process that highlights the choice to listen; it compares this model to behaviorist models which suggest the processes starts when one hears or perceives a message. This dissertation presents the hermeneutical model as yet another way to explain the complexities of listening.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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