1. The assumption about the representational nature of communication.
2. The assumption about the integration of the means and the form of communication.
3. The assumption about the socio-individual dimension of communication.
4. The assumption about the regulatory role of cultural knowledge.
5. The assumption about the self-reference of research.
6. The assumption about the reflexive historicising of communication.
7. The assumption about accepting the weak version of presentism.
The indicated conditions are meta-theoretical assumptions of practising communication history. It means that these philosophical conditions designate the boundaries of communication knowledge. This way they present the research perspective with foundations for functioning, legitimize certain positions, but also indicate the limitations. The catalogue of these conditions is in fact the key research result achieved in this book. Below, a synthetic presentation of each of the conditions is provided.
Communication can be perceived as a communication action and as a communication practice. Thus, I assume that communication is primarily theorized or described by the researcher. Therefore, I emphasize that communication is “perceived to be” not that communication “is” this or that. Of course, this assumption results mainly from the constructivist attitude to humanities research, although it is connected with another key issue; namely, the assumption about the representational nature of communication deals with how the concept of communication is understood in a given community. In other words, what do the individuals participating in a given culture imagine communication to be, and what do they imagine an effective or successful practice of communication is like. In other words, with this assumption I emphasize that communication has a very important represantational dimension which I call the collective representations aspect of communication. It is shaped by cultural knowledge, rules, standards and values shaping our communication actions. At the same time, the collective representations aspect, i.e., such ways of conceptualizing communication about communication, which determine the formation of communication theory, can be indicated. To specify this meta-level, in the culturalist position I use the term meta-communication.
