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Kyle Huynh
Communication 1050/03
November 6, 2013
Theory Research Paper
Epistemology: Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory
Coordinated Management of Meaning is a practical theory that has different
meanings in certain situations. Depending on specific situations and contexts, the
meaning created and understood can be varying. This is the definition of having multiple
truths or the scope of knowledge. I will be analyzing the film, “The Pursuit of
Happyness,” and how the scope of knowledge coincides with Coordinated Management
of Meaning theory. “The Pursuit of Happyness”, directed by Gabriele Muccino, was
pressured by Will Smith to direct the film. Smith watched a few of Muccino’s films and
was astounded by the pathos he established to create the powerful emotion towards his
targeted audience. The theory of CMM was developed by Barnett Pearce and Vernon
Cronen. The metatheoretical approach I will be discussing is the epistemological
assumption. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that looks at the nature and scope of
knowledge. This branch of philosophy observes the nature of knowledge and how it
relates to connected concepts such as justification, belief, and truth.
Knowledge consists of thinking and then assigning meaning to the properties of
reality. In the “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Chris Gardner, who is played by Will Smith,
portrays and acts differently to the people he communicates with. Remember that this
movie is based on a true story of Chris Gardner, a successful stockbroker. The
communication tactics that Chris Gardner used were all employed in his life while he was
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struggling to survive. Coordinated Management of Meaning theory has a wide scope of
knowledge or “multiple truths”. This theory does not have one correct answer to
communication; it varies through different conversations. In order for this theory to
work, it must be applied to each individual case systematically.
In the United States, diversity has been rising, meaning an increase in
different views. In the intro to “The Pursuit of Happyness”, Chris notices some graffiti art
outside the daycare building that his son was attending that spelled “happyness”. There
was an Asian man outside of the daycare sweeping the front of the building near the
graffiti art; he was an employee at the daycare. Chris tries to communicate with him and
told him that he needs to change the “Y” to an “I”. The Asian man could not speak nor
understand English so Chris had to compromise by trying to explain the situation using
hand gestures and giving instructions to what letter it is supposed to be. If the Asian guy
did speak English he would have communicated in an entirely different way. CMM is
about compromise which equals compatibility and that leads to an effective
communication.
So how does epistemology play a role? What do we know and how do we know
it? Epistemology is the scope of knowledge. According to epistemology, knowledge is
justified true belief or justified true statements. In order to know that a given proposition
is true, one must not only believe the relevant true proposition, but must also have a
worthy reason for believing it. Once Chris understood that the Asian man did not speak
English (what we know), he had a good reason to communicate in a different form. Chris
knew that he did not speak English because he was talking in a different language, and
had an Asian accent (how do we know it).
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Chris has to communicate with a lot of people while he was interning at Dean
Witter’s; he was constantly on the phone for hours. That mean he needs to be able to
communicate effectively and understand that people have different cultures and values.
He is not going to talk to each person in the same way. Depending on their response,
Chris must act accordingly. In CMM, there is no one right answer; there are multiple
truths. It requires in-depth knowledge to figure out the right answer for certain contexts
which is the branch of philosophy that deals with the scope of knowledge. As stated
before; CMM has multiple truths or “scope of knowledge.” People must be able to
compromise and learn how to be compatible with people from different cultures or has
different views.
Epistemology deals with the scope of knowledge. This knowledge relates to truth,
belief, and justification. Chris Gardner built a different set of relationship for people. In
CMM, people build a relationship based on the status of the person they communicate
with. If it is a stranger, a person would not be too open to them about their personal life in
comparison to a family member or a close friend. Chris struggled day by day but always
held a professional look to people at Dean Witter’s Brokerage Firm. He made them
believe that he was fairly successful with his life, but that was just their belief. Belief
should always be separated from truth because it is not the same. Belief is not knowledge
unless it is justified which brings us to justification. In this case, it was justified because
Chris always held a positive professional attitude and always dressed in professional
business attire. This is called a justified belief.
When Chris was offered an internship position at Dean Witter’s Brokerage Firm
with about two dozen other people, the instructor stated to all the interns that only one
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will be offered a job at Dean Witter’s at the end of the internship. This is considered a
justified true statement because the company only accepted one person. In CMM, there
are multiple truths to different contexts. While Chris was interning at Dean Witter’s, he
communicates differently, he is more professional to his boss and customers. Proper
professional communication is considered one truth of CMM when working in a
professional environment. If Chris was working at Burger King, he would not need to be
acting like a business man. He would have a different truth and he would use his scope of
knowledge with CMM to communicate to the customers in the right way.
To wrap this up, Chris’s ability to communicate was due to using his
knowledge of how to communicate as “scripts for action” in face-to-face communication
with different people in certain contexts (CMM). He understood the scope of knowledge
within CMM and applied them with justified beliefs and justified true statements.
Depending on the people he talked to in “The Pursuit of Happyness”, he used regulative
and constitutive rules to interpret messages. He understood what to say and what not to
say around different people.
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Works Cited
Griffin, Em, "A First Look at Communications Theory". Wheaton College (Pg: 67)
Steup, Matthias, "Epistemology." Stanford University. Stanford University, 14 Dec.\
2005. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology/>.
Tubbs, Gregg. "Movie Review: The Pursuit of Happyness." The People of Tthe United
Methodist Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
<www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2341837/k.1834/Movie_Review_iThe_Pu
rsuit_of_Happynessi.htm>.
"CMM - Interpersonal Communication Context." Spring 2001 Theory Workbook. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/interpersonal/cmm.htm>.
The Pursuit of Happyness. Dir. Gabriele Muccino. Perf. Will Smith, Thandie Newton,
and Jaden Smith. Overbrook Entertainment, 2006. DVD.