Kommunikasiewetenskap: problematologie, metodologie en kriterialogie

SUMMARY

Within the context of the international debate on the status of communication as a science, (and the status of science in general), the author discusses the foundations of and fundamental questions in the study of communication. He does this against the background of a general discussion of the three main components in the practice of science, namely problem setting, methodology and criteria for evaluation. The author argues that the scientist should always be in a position to account for the way in which paradigmatic or contextual approaches influence his practice and study of science and as well as the results of his research. For instance, how do the different forms of positivism, the naturalistic, the biologistic, the mechanistic and the psychologistic and sociologistic approaches, each with their own vision on the nature of science, influence or “colour” the scientist's practice of research? According to the author it is only possible to answer this question by first of all to formulate a view of the scientist as a human being and thereafter of a science with a complimentary analytical and contextual approach.