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'Communication: Its Blocking And Its Facilitation'

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The expression argument has two meanings in scholarly writing. First, it means a composition that takes a position on one side of a divisive issue. You might write an argument against the death penalty, or for or against censorship of pornography. But argument has another meaning, too. It means an essay that, simply, argues a point. You might assemble an argument about the significance of ancestor myths in a certain aborigine culture, or you might write an argument defending your understanding of any poem or essay that is read in your philosophy class. (Winthrop University) You are not necessarily taking one side of a divisive issue, but you are required to defend your points with credible evidence. You are taking a position. In a sense, …show more content…

In emotionally stimulating situations, however, the audience will hold more sturdily to its beliefs the more strongly those beliefs are challenged. Young, Becker and Pike suggest breaking these barriers to communication by using a variation of Rogers' non-directive therapy. In "Communication: Its Blocking and its Facilitation," Rogers suggests that in emotional disputes, neither party should put forward a position until she has carefully, non-judgmentally and with the maximum possible empathy restated the position of the other, to the other's satisfaction. (Brent) This will convey to the other the sense that he is understood and that the two parties are more similar than different, thereby creating a context for communication. (Brent) Carl Rogers was born January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, the fourth of six children. His education started in the second grade because he could already read before kindergarten. He spent his adolescence isolated, independent and self-disciplined. He went to the University of Wisconsin as an agriculture major, but later switched to religion to study for the ministry. He has been quoted as saying “that his new experiences so broadened his thinking that he began to doubt some of his basic religious views.” (Boeree) Carl Rogers later married Ms. Helen Elliot and moved to New York to start school at the Union Theological Seminary, a famous liberal religious institution.

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