Defense Date
10-18-2024
Graduation Date
Fall 12-20-2024
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
Inci Özüm Üçok-Sayrak
Committee Member
Erik Garrett
Committee Member
Garnet Butchart
Keywords
Philosophical Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Communication
Abstract
This dissertation proposes the viability of philosophical hermeneutics as a theoretical framework for communication studies. It has five chapters that each develop this argument. The first chapter provides an overview and justification for the dissertation along with a review of the historical development of philosophical hermeneutics. This provides a sense of general themes and the theoretical basis for philosophical hermeneutics. The second chapter sets out to expound on the viability of philosophical hermeneutics to inform communication research as a form of research praxis. This chapter develops the three main themes from philosophical hermeneutics that this dissertation proposes to integrate into communication studies and explains how they apply to communication. Chapter three argues that philosophical hermeneutics can also inform communicative praxis. This argument is made by exploring the hermeneutical challenge made in a book by James Cone and how philosophical hermeneutics can respond to it. The way philosophical hermeneutics can respond to the challenge ends up being an excellent example of how it can inform communicative praxis. Chapter four explores some of the challenges to the relevance of philosophical hermeneutics to critical discourse. These challenges stem from certain readings of poststructuralism. I refute these readings and contend that philosophical hermeneutics shares common ground with other critical theoretical perspectives. I also set up a model for understanding how the critical function of philosophical hermeneutics expands the agency of the situated subject. Chapter five is a case study on how philosophical hermeneutics can be appropriated to address the problem of political polarization. I contend that philosophical hermeneutics can be appropriated as a form of communicative praxis to address problematic polarization on the level of how political communicative agents treat each other and the level of the symbolic function of ideology. Overall, the project develops the integration of the three themes of philosophical hermeneutics I have chosen into communication studies by demonstrating the relevance and viability of philosophical hermeneutics in a variety of pertinent areas.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Errera, D. (2024). Philosophical Hermeneutic Approaches to Communication Studies (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/2272