Epistemological approaches to modern communication research

The correlation between the concepts of «inter–communicativistics» and «communicology», considered by Professor F.I. Sharkov, the founder of the interdisciplinary scientific field «communicology», in Russia, is given. This article presents an analysis of the philosophical and epistemological foundations of contemporary research in communication studies, based on a systematic review of 35 scholarly works published between 2010 and 2025. The study aims to identify and classify implicit and explicit concepts of truth underlying the methodological frameworks used to investigate communicative processes. The methodology is grounded in qualitative content analysis and the identification of «symptoms» of philosophical positions within the authors’ categorical apparatus, metaphors, and evaluative judgments. As a result, three dominant paradigms are distinguished: the correspondence theory of truth (truth as correspondence to reality), the coherence theory of truth (truth as internal consistency of a system), and the pragmatic theory of truth (truth as effectiveness and practical utility). The study establishes an absolute dominance (51% of the works) of the pragmatic concept, particularly in its instrumentalist (Deweyan) interpretation, marking an epistemological shift from classical to post-non-classical, functionally-oriented approaches. The correspondence (23%) and coherence (14%) paradigms retain important, yet more specialized roles – critical-normative and discourse-analytical, respectively. The vast majority of authors (89%) employ concepts of truth implicitly; however, a tendency toward methodological synthesis and growing reflexivity is observed, indicating the formation of a post-non-classical research orientation in communication studies.

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