Speaking into the Air

by Peters, John Durham

• ISBN13: 9780226662770
• ISBN10: 0226662772
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Communication plays a vital and unique role in society-often blamed for problems when it breaks down and at the same time heralded as a panacea for human relations. A sweeping history of communication, Speaking Into the Air illuminates our expectations of communication as both historically specific and a fundamental knot in Western thought. "This is a most interesting and thought-provoking book. . . . Peters maintains that communication is ultimately unthinkable apart from the task of establishing a kingdom in which people can live together peacefully. Given our condition as mortals, communication remains not primarily a problem of technology, but of power, ethics and art." --Antony Anderson, New Scientist "Guaranteed to alter your thinking about communication. . . . Original, erudite, and beautifully written, this book is a gem." --Kirkus Reviews "Peters writes to reclaim the notion of authenticity in a media-saturated world. It's this ultimate concern that renders his book a brave, colorful exploration of the hydra-headed problems presented by a rapid-fire popular culture." --Publishers Weekly What we have here is a failure-to-communicate book. Funny thing is, it communicates beautifully. . . . Speaking Into the Air delivers what superb serious books always do-hours of intellectual challenge as one absorbs the gradually unfolding vision of an erudite, creative author." --Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

Author Biography

John Durham Peters is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Problem of Communication	1	(3)
The Historicity of Communication	3	(3)
The Varied Senses of ``Communication''	6	(4)
Sorting Theoretical Debates in (and via) the 1920s	10	(12)
Technical and Therapeutic Discourses after World War II	22	(11)
Dialogue and Dissemination	33	(30)
Dialogue and Eros in the Phaedrus	36	(15)
Dissemination in the Synoptic Gospels	51	(12)
History of an Error: The Spiritualist Tradition	63	(46)
Christian Sources	66	(11)
From Matter to Mind: ``Communication'' in the Seventeenth Century	77	(12)
Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism	89	(20)
Toward a More Robust Vision of Spirit: Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard	109	(28)
Hegel on Recognition	109	(10)
Marx (versus Locke) On Money	119	(8)
Kierkegaard's Incognitos	127	(10)
Phantasms of the Living, Dialogues with the Dead	137	(40)
Recording the Transmission	137	(10)
Hermeneutics as Communication with the Dead	147	(18)
Dead Letters	165	(12)
The Quest for Authentic connection, or Bridging the Chasm	177	(50)
The Interpersonal Walls of Idealism	180	(8)
Fraud or Contact? James on Psychical Research	188	(7)
Reach Out and Touch Someone:The Telephonic Uncanny	195	(11)
Radio: Broadcasting as Dissemination (and Dialogue)	206	(21)
Machines, Animals, and Aliens: Horizons of Incommunicability	227	(46)
The Turing Test and the Insuperability of Eros	233	(8)
Animals and Empathy with the Inhuman	241	(5)
Communication with Aliens	246	(17)
Conclusion: A Squeeze of the Hand	263	(1)
The Gaps of Which Communication Is Made	263	(2)
The Privilege of the Receiver	265	(2)
The Dark Side of Communication	267	(2)
The Irreducibility of Touch and Time	269	(4)
Appendix: Extracts (Supplied by a Sub-sublibrarian)	273	(10)
Acknowledgments	283	(2)
Index	285