Foreword

KENNETH J. GERGEN

It has been a great privilege to count Diana Whitney, the senior author of this splendid work, as friend and colleague for over 25 years. From our very first meeting, a common interest in human communication was focal. For me, these interests took a scholarly turn; for Diana, they led to a sparkling career in organizational development.

My scholarly journey ultimately led me to explore the ways in which human communication gave rise to shared views of reality, morality, and rationality. Ultimately, it could be ventured, all that we hold to be worthwhile in life issues from communicative practices. Such views, often identified as social constructionist, were unsettling to many. They flew in the face of the scientific ...

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