Defense Date

6-10-2005

Graduation Date

Summer 1-1-2005

Availability

Worldwide 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

Janie Harden Fritz

Committee Member

Richard H. Thames

Keywords

Arendt, Buber, care, communication ethics, dialogue, interpersonal communication, labor

Abstract

Dialogue as the labor of care unfolds a vision of how the philosophy of dialogue can assist us as human beings to enact care in our daily lives. In the end, caring is a unity of contraries; blessing and burden, joy and suffering, necessity and triumph. The invitation of dialogue into the communicative life of caring requires bravery and courage and thus creates strong and rare natures.

The impetus of this vision comes from the work of Martin Buber whose ideas have changed the way we view communication and enrich the way we view caring. The additional metaphor of labor, provided by the work of Hannah Arendt, allows for a deeper understanding of caring. The metaphor of labor reveals and emphasizes that not only is care a necessity for human communicative life, care is at the same time a blessing and a burden. The necessity of labor opens the conversation concerning care through the notion of care as an imperative for everyday communicative life. Joy and suffering, blessing and burden, necessity and triumph emphasize the fact that life is best lived in the unity of contraries.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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