Public Communication as Collective DecisionMaking 27
2.1 Reconciling Social Pluralism and the Common Good . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2 Public Communication & the Common Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.1
e Purpose of Public Communication: Defining the Meaning of the
Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2.2 Defining the Common/Collective or the Composition of the Public
Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2.3 Collective Decisions & Meta-Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.4 Public Communication in Empirical Social Research . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2.5 Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3 Epistemological Reflections on the Relationship Between Practices and Ideals
of Public Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.4 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50