Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

• Colossians 4:5-6

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

• 2 Timothy 2:22-26

“Born in Luneburg, Germany, Niklas Luhmann was captured by the Americans during World War II, when he was just 17. After the war he worked as a lawyer until, in 1962, he took a sabbatical to study sociology in America. He went on to become one of the most important and prolific social theorists of the 20th century. Luhmann developed a grand theory, to explain every element of social life, from complex well-established societies to the briefest of exchanges, lasting just seconds. In his most important work, The Society of Society (1997), he argues that communication is the only genuinely social phenomenon.”

• Sam Atkinson (senior editor), The Philosophy Book, Big Ideas Simply Explained

Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist.  His functionalist-oriented systems theory has been reported to describe all social phenomenon.

Whether his system is accurate or not, he is quite provocative in stating that communication is the only genuine social phenomenon.  But what was his definition of “communication?”

I went online and asked for the difference in communication and conversation.  The prevailing answers were that conversation was simply a subset of communication – one way to communicate in a world where there are so many people communicating in so many ways.

I might agree with that, but these AI driven responders have too broad a definition of both words.  You can talk and never communicate.  You can talk and never have a conversation.

The two words need to have more than just talking.

I talked with an atheist many years ago.  They would allow me to talk for a few minutes without them saying a word, but the entire time, their hands fidgeted.  Their lips moved.  Their eyes never made contact.  Why?  They only heard a few words of what I said.  When it was their turn, it was not talking, it was shouting.  They spewed hatred for the few key words they were looking for in what I said.  And to top it off, they said that what I had said in a calm, loving voice was hatred, while their anger-charged, profanity laden screaming rant was true love.

Was this conversation?  No matter how much it hurt, I at least listened, and I learned a lot.  Next time, I will let them go first, and when they stop to catch their breath, I will say, “I will pray for you” and then walk away.  Some of these people engage in such “conversations” for the joy of arguing, but arguing with a stacked deck.

A Conversation, by many online experts is not just talking in both directions and allowing the other person to have uninterrupted time, it is listening and learning.  Communication is when information has been passed from one person to another and there is a change.

A Social Phenomenon is social behavior, action, or event, but do these phenomena communicate anything other than people of an extreme viewpoint hate people who disagree with their viewpoint.  Does that change anything?

In a way, it does change us.  It communicates that modern “communication” is divisive and dividing, pulling our society apart.

Can our society ever become a peaceful society where people do not shout, do not get angry, and can find some middle ground on which to build a better society?

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.