This essay examines multitudinous definitions of 'communication' in the light of the meaning of 'concept' as reflected in the literature of the philosophy of science. The examination produced 15 main themes from the definitions. Among the 15 conceptual components there are three upon which the definitions rather critically divide. These three points of conceptual split are examined for their impact on theory construction in communication. Some suggestions are made for conceptual clarification.In the process of theory construction a concept determines the behavioral field observed which, in turn, affects the principles derived which, in turn, affect the hypotheses generated which, in turn, affect the laws and the system of laws stated which, all together, compose the theory c0nstructed.l The concept is basic to any study of communication or the communicative process. The concept determines the field which the theorist, experimenter, or historian will choose to study.' The concept of communication with which one starts will substantively affect any additions to Frank E. X. Dance (Ph.D., Northwestern, 1959) is Profesror of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research and publication interests have centered in the areas of human communication theory and adult speech communication. Mr. Dance has served as President of the ICA, editor of the Journal of Communication, and is the current editor of The Speech Teacher.'Although the vocabulary of meta-theory is subject to many interpretations, one schema for theory construction suggests the following system:1. Assumptions underlie all behavior and theory building; 2. concepts and their corresponding definitions structure 3. obscrved behauiors from which 4. principles (general observations not stated in testable form) are drawn, from which a 5. hypothesis, or theorem ( a general observation stated in testable form), is extracted, based upon which a 6. law(s) ( a statement expressing tested relationships between facts) is formulated, a number of which laws constitute a 7. system ( a concatenation of laws), leading to a 8. theory ( a n interrelated system of laws capable of explanation and prediction)."The setting up of classes in such a way that knowledge can be ordered,
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Experiments with chimpanzees pose a definitional dilemma and suggest that only Homo Sapiens can learn typically human forms of communication.Throughout history the human race has shown a fascination for communicating with other animals. Darwin's On the Origin of Species gave additional impetus to the interest in cross-species communication. In fact, for some, the last barrier to an acceptance of a Darwinian evolutionary position is the barrier presented by what is alleged to be the species specificity of human communication (14).Currently there are several attempts to induce a form of human language in other primates. Extensive experiments are being conducted by five major research teams, all working with chimpanzees. Each team, having reviewed the work done by the Kellogs in the thirties and the Hayeses in the fifties, has concluded explicitly or implicitly that the oral/aural channel of human speech communication is either physically impossible for chimpanzees to master, or not essential for defining human linguistic performance. Starting with those assumptions, each of the teams has constructed different descriptions of human speech communication and has established different behavioral criteria for the chimpanzees to fulfill.
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