These are main features of the dominant paradigm(s) that our main readings will be critiquing and providing alternatives to.

Objects of Study / Ontological Divisions

1. Mind – Cognition (broad), Person, Agent
   1. Feeling – Emotion / Affect
   2. Thinking – Cognition / Knowledge
   3. Acting – Decision
2. Society – Groups, Culture (broad)
   1. Culture
   2. Language
   3. Institutions
3. Communication – Modes of interaction
   1. Media / Information
   2. Rhetoric – Writing / Speaking
   3. Organizations

Associated Disciplines

1. Sciences of the Mind
   • Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience
   • Philosophy – of Mind, Epistemology
   • Artificial Intelligence, Education
2. Sciences of Society
   • Sociology, Anthropology, Linguistics
   • Economics, Political Science
   • Philosophy – Ethics, Political
   • Humanities: History, Literature, Art
3. Sciences of Communication
   • Communication Studies, Media Studies
   • Network Theory, Information Theory, Telecommunications
   • Rhetoric & Comp, Journalism

Theories and assumptions

1. Computationalism – Cognition as information processing, formal.
2. Reductionism – Society to Mind, Mind to Life, Life to Chemicals, Chemicals to Atoms…
3. Functionalism – Mind and society as complex, structure system whose parts are understood in terms of how they function within and are shaped by those structures.
   • System as stable whole. Body and organs.
   • A type of reductionism
4. Mind is deep, culture is superficial – e.g., Chomsky.
5. Communication as thought-downloading.
6. Learning as passive, receptive.
7. Cartesianism – The mind is separate from the body, world. It is independent of culture. Our own mind is what we know best, because we have direct access to it, unlike the world.

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