Communication and philosophy are close through the inclusion of the other

I present some considerations for the discussion on transdisciplinarity. They are based on the development of two scientific studies carried out in different fields, namely philosophy and communication. The subject may get interesting.

In a simple way, transdisciplinarity is when distinct fields of science collaborate with each other. But they do not merely influence one another or get mentioned; they work together and change. Example: the case of the artist Ana Bellenzier having researched art (one field) within geography (another field). Let me return to my impressions.

My first study deals with the reception of political communication in the philosophy of psychoanalysis. This accumulation of words may make it sound less simple than it is: I am doing a psychoanalysis of Brazil’s digital democracy (the conclusions are worrying).

Contemporary philosophy has allowed itself to pay attention to political life, and I would note that it does so from notably pragmatic approaches. The electoral use of religion in Brazil and the Covid-19 pandemic are thematic examples. It is an opportunity to analyze the present time.

In this context, psychoanalyzing the Brazilian voter’s relationship with politics is welcome to philosophy. Not least because there are authors common to philosophy, politics and communication, as is the case of Flusser and Habermas. This fluidity constitutes a bridge to communication.

The conversation between the scientific fields of philosophy and communication has proven rich and promising. They are connected fields, although their historical constitutions are about two thousand years apart.

My second study is about the communication of voters critical of the Supreme Federal Court and of the Court’s justices. Although communication research is a consequence of philosophy, political science, etc., it is now established as a field of its own.

That is when we ask ourselves: what is there of communication in this communication research? How does it differ from research in sociology or psychology? The answers to those questions can make communication and philosophy look quite similar. Why?

The most striking feature of the field of communication is that it is a kind of intermediate space, a free span, in which all contributions on communication are welcome (except the opinion of influencers — laughs). And philosophy feels very much at home in spaces like that.