This collection of Habermas's recent essays on philosophical topics continues the analysis begun in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. In a short introductory essay, he outlines the sources of twentieth-century philosophizing, its major themes, and the range of current debates. The remainder of the essays can be seen as his contribution to these debates.Habermas's essay on George Herbert Mead is a focal point of the book. In it he sketches a postmetaphysical, intersubjective approach to questions of individuation and subjectivity. In (...) other essays, he develops his distinctive, communications-theoretic approach to questions of meaning and validity. The book as a whole expands on his earlier efforts to define a middle ground between nostalgic revivals of metaphysical conceptions of reason and radical deconstructions of reason. Jürgen Habermas is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt.The Essays: The Horizon of Modernity is Shifting. Metaphysics after Kant. Themes in Postmetaphysical Thinking. Toward a Critique of the Theory of Meaning. Peirce and Communication. The Unity of Reason in the Diversity of Its Voices. Individuation through Socialization: On George Herbert Mead's Theory of Subjectivity. Philosophy and Science as Literature? (shrink)

Scientific knowledge grows at a phenomenal pace--but few books have had as lasting an impact or played as important a role in our modern world as The Mathematical Theory of Communication, published originally as a paper on communication theory more than fifty years ago. Republished in book form shortly thereafter, it has since gone through four hardcover and sixteen paperback printings. It is a revolutionary work, astounding in its foresight and contemporaneity. The University of Illinois Press is pleased and honored (...) to issue this commemorative reprinting of a classic. (shrink)

Molecular biologist Cramer explores how recent revelations about nonlinear systems enhance our perceptions of nature. Each chapter begins with a semi-fictitious dialogue and ends with a poem by the likes of Yeats, Dickinson, and Stevens. Of interest to specialist and nonspecialist scientists and to general readers who are basically familiar with scientific principles. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart explore the ability of complicated rules to generate simple behaviour in nature through 'the collapse of chaos'.

Never before has there been a greater need for deeper listening and more open communication to cope with the complex problems facing our organizations, businesses and societies. Renowned scientist David Bohm believed there was a better way for humanity to discover meaning and to achieve harmony. He identified creative dialogue, a sharing of assumptions and understanding, as a means by which the individual, and society as a whole, can learn more about themselves and others, and achieve a renewed sense of (...) purpose. (shrink)

This is a study of the influence of the new science of complexity on communication theory. The study begins with a description of the new science of complexity and identifies core rhetorical concepts found in the science describing complexity theory. They are nonlinearity, patterns, underdetermination, self-organization, and holism. The study then shows how those core concepts are also present in the social sciences and communication theory and practice. ;The study introduces the concept of fractals and proposes that paradigms are essentially (...) conceptual fractals. I argue that a change in a paradigm involves a shift in the core assumptions regarding human nature, the nature of truth, causality, individual identity and communication protocol. I then show how complexity theory has resulted in a shift in assumptions in each of these areas and conclude there is a general theoretical shift towards a complexity paradigm. ;The study proposes that complexity theory redefines the locus and significance of communication and informs the study of communication by redefining what is knowable, what is truth, how behavior is caused, how individual identity is impacted, and what are appropriate communication protocols. This study then provides an example of a complexity theory explanation of dialogue and examines how group learning and transcendencies occur in the dialogue process. (shrink)