Philosophy of Communication: Qualitative Research, Questions in Action

Qualitative research meets and gathers insight and information, commencing with the particular. Qualitative research moves us from reductive and abstract engagement to experience of the subject matter before us. Philosophy of communication, understood as qualitative research in action, centers inquiry on questioning, reading, writing, editing, thinking, and interpretation. These five qualitative acts of inquiry are not isolated categories, yet they are simultaneously distinct characteristics within philosophy of communication scholarship. I contend that these five coordinates facilitate the performative engagement of philosophy of communication inquiry. I offer a story centered on five research coordinates, explicated with scholars repeatedly referenced in philosophy of communication literature. I engage these scholars in a manner akin to Walter Benjamin’s (1968) “pearl diving,” seeking insight from selected parts of their copious contributions. Their collective insights function as threads with which I weave a story about the doing of philosophy of communication.