Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> On Sat, 28 Jul 2001, Kelley wrote:
>
> > also, that said, he [JH] has argued that our communication is
> > systematically
> > distorted _because_ of domination, power, exploitation.
> >
>
> This is the strangest thing to me about Habermas' project. In fact,
> domination, power, and exploitation make possible various forms of
> communication in everyday life. Think about it: schools, mass media,
> the military, the factory floor, the church: each of these social
> contexts involves hierarchy and power relations. Nevertheless, people
> effectively communicate in these
The proposition "Communication is distorted" is incoherent. Unless we know what was to be communicated we have no way of comparing it with what was communicated. What is strage to me is that communication should ever have become a problem. I would assume that communication is always satisfactory, and the burden of proof lies completely on those who want to claim it's a problem.
One widespread characteristic of 20th-century thought, it seems to me, is inventing non-problems over which to agonize. Let me suggest that the totality of 20th-century concerns with "meaning," "communication," etc. have been pointless.
Carrol