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Description:
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We live in a risk society - or network society - that has turned liquid,
inhabitants of a multi-layered information-rich environment. The
uncertainties of noise, gossip, rumour, disinformation and 'chatter'
surround us, demanding our interpretations. And yet, despite the abundance
of social science literature on uncertainly, there is still a serious lag
in communication theory. The main claim of this book is therefore that
theories of intersubjectivity, dialogue and understanding are now out of
joint with our world. We need to return to a theory of the ethics of
interpretation which casts off the fetters of both the intersubjective
paradigm of Habermas' rationalistic communication theory and
systems-theoretical responses to that paradigm which seriously neglect the
role of the human agent. Uncertainty and Communication offers new
theoretical investigations into the communicating subject in society. It
argues that although the noise of our world creates informational strain
for agents and the pressure to interpret from multiple truths, multiple
selves and multiple realities, that very interpretative pressure is the
ethical imperative of the communicating subject.
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