Constructs, experience, and argument

A “third world of inquiry” lies beyond a humanistic study of rhetoric and a social scientific study of communication. This essay explores such a world through the philosophical position of perspectivism, which reveals that by thematizing a relationship between constructs and experience, one is led to an interpretive stance; by thematizing a relationship between argument and experience, one is led to criticism; and by thematizing argument and constructs, one is led to a concern for the research process. Regardless of which relationship is emphasized, a student of the third world seeks understanding and thereby contributes to the idea that rhetorical communication is a human science.