ECREA Philosophy of Communication Section Workshop

September 18-20, 2019

Tel Aviv 

Deadline: March 17, 2019

What is communication? There is no single answer to this fundamental question. According to the (still prevailing) transmission view, communication consists in the transfer of messages from sender to receiver. According to the constructionist perspective, on the other hand, in the processes of communication meanings are constituted, not merely transferred. This perspective has many variants (the ritual / constitutive model, use-oriented philosophical outlooks on linguistic meaning, social construction of communication approach, or systems theory – to name only a few), and is pursued (either explicitly or implicitly) by a variety of communication scholars, as well as thinkers in related fields. At the same time, communication constructionism still has its staunch opponents.

The objective of this workshop is to bring together scholars of communication studies, philosophy and neighboring fields to explore the current faces of constructionism in communication research.

Thus we invite papers concerned with the following questions and topics, among others:

• Theoretical developments of the constructionist position.
• Formal models of constructionism.
• Critical analyses of constructionism (or its specific variants).
• Discussions of philosophical/theoretical perspectives on communication that embody the constructionist outlook.
• Applications of the constructionist view in particular case-studies.

Please send extended abstracts (up to 400 words) to Eli Dresner, Tel Aviv University, dresner@post.tau.ac.il, by March 17, 2019. Notification of acceptance by April 15, 2019.