The origins and main stages of the development of communication theory 8. Communication problems in history

• The history of the development of communicative thought
• New understanding of human communication

Appeal to the problems of man, of human existence is observed in the 5th century BC. This is due to the development of the “art of persuading”, the activities of the sophists (the first Greek teachers), the development of rhetoric, politics and ethics.

Socrates (469 - 399 BC) marked the beginning of moral philosophy. At the center of his teaching was the problem of man and his essence. He develops the so-called Socratic method of dialectics as a method of reasoning.

Plato (427 347 BC) contrasts ethics with rhetoric. Later he recognizes that the art of conversation, the art of building a dialogue is undoubted, if it serves the truth, the path to which lies through the knowledge of things, the soul, the dialectic.

Aristotle (384 322 BC), like Plato, was convinced that exploring the truth, cultivating knowledge was the task of philosophers, and the task of rhetoric was to convince, find out the means and methods of persuasion. Aristotle's rhetoric is “the methodology of persuasion,” the art of analyzing and defining the processes leading to the conquest of minds. The rhetoric is close to logic and especially to dialectic.

Cicero - (106-43 BC) argued that the subject of rhetoric can be understood both as the structure of any speech on any topic (in any branch of knowledge and skills), and as an art to transfer one's knowledge through speech (pedagogy). Oratory requires a wide erudition and special education in the field of philosophy, law, civil organization, etc. Besides special knowledge, common sense is also necessary for the speaker.

Mark Faviy Quintillian - (ca. 36-ok.96) completed ancient rhetoric, founded pedagogy, built a system of education, combining the components of rhetoric, ethics, pedagogy.

Ancient thought took the first important steps towards understanding human communication.

A powerful impetus to the development of self-identity in the process of communication was given by Christianity. But it also imposed certain restrictions on the development of human individuality, on the nature of the relationship. Communion of people turned out to be not so much a goal as a means of ensuring the possibility of man’s communication with God (and not with his own kind).

The works of theorists of oratory of that time were associated with the systematization of knowledge drawn from antiquity, the streamlining of the terminology of rhetoric and the organization of the text. Homiletics comes to replace antique rhetoric - the art of delivering a sermon, supported by the unshakable authority of the church.

Renaissance and New Time bring a new understanding of human communication based on a humanistic world view. The focus of attention on the new culture is Man, the values ​​of his earthly life, but the perception of man is extremely individualistic.

In the era of the Enlightenment, attitudes in the intellectual environment change - more and more recognition is gained by an understanding of the nature of man and human relations, which is based on the belief in the possibility of creating a society in which relations of "freedom, equality and fraternity" will reign. The popularity of rhetoric at this time decreases, it begins to be perceived only as a synonym for beautiful, pompous but insignificant speech.

Communication Theory at the Turn of the 18th-19th Centuries, in the 20th Century

Philosophical approaches to the construction of communication theory at the turn of the 18-19 centuries. and an appeal to the communication problems of philosophers of the 20th century. implemented within various schools, directions and approaches.

In the 19th century F. Schleiermacher laid the philosophical and methodological foundations of hermeneutics - an independent direction of modern philosophical thought. In hermeneutics are developed categories that are fundamentally important for the theory of communication - "understanding" and "interpretation". The ideas of hermeneutic phenomenology were developed in the works of the Russian philosopher GG Shpet (1879-1940). In his work The Inner Form of the Word (1927), he anticipated many of the ideas of the later hermeneutics and theory of language. In the works of various scholars, hermeneutics gradually acquire philosophical significance, becoming a teaching about human existence and communication.

Further, the approaches to the study and formulation of communication theory continue such theories as neopositivism (or analytical philosophy), logical positivism, linguistic philosophy, semiotics, critical philosophy of the Frankfurt School. All representatives of various schools and points of view, noted in the history of the development of communication science, prepared the ground for identifying certain concrete scientific approaches to the definition of modern communication concepts.

• What scholars of antiquity addressed communication problems?
• At what time did the understanding of communication acquire a new character?