On the Philosophical Status of the Transmission Metaphor

Abstract

The view on the communication process as a process in which something is communicated (transmitted), is a collective view and as such must be regarded as subject to historical changes. This article aims to analyse the metaphorical conceptualizations, which form part of the collective view, and which are important research subjects of communicology. A new division introduced in the article is the distinction between the pre-theoeretical and the theoretical metaphorical conceptualization in relation to communication processes. This procedure allows for an analysis of the relationship between the pre-theoretical views (conduit, container metaphor) and the theoretical ones (transfer metaphor). The author suggests how the introduction of the diachronic perspective to the study of defining of communication helps to better understand the genesis of the modern understanding of communication practices.