I really enjoyed reading the research article for this week’s readings – and not just because it is about Twitter. I am a huge fan of emerging technology, but what really fascinated me is that it was a practical application of Habermas, Bernstein, and Learning and Teaching as Communicative Actions theory. I think I tend to be more practical minded, and looking at how these apply to an actual research study was very helpful. There is still much about Learning and Teaching as Communicative Actions theory that I need to fine tune. I think I get the basics (just don’t ask me to recite those from memory just yet!), but there is still more I want to learn about the practical application of those to learning as well as research.

Bernstein was looking at incommensurability and otherness. I get that incommensurability is basically just the idea that different people can see the world in different ways, and that it is impossible to say which way is right. At its core, I think he is saying that we need to engage with the Other – thoughts outside of our own understanding – to truly know what we believe for ourselves. If we have only had exposure to one or two sets of beliefs, then we really have no way to know what else is out there. How can we know what is really true? This sounds a lot like what I did in my teens and twenties on my religious pilgrimage to get to where I am now – I decided to read every religious scripture I could get my hands on to see which one I thought was true. I read the Bible, Apocrypha,  Qu’ran, Vedas, teachings of Buddha, Taoist scriptures, and several other writings, secondary sources, and minor writings. There is still much I want to read, but I am now more satisfied with where I am in my journey now that I have had a look at a lot of what there is out there. There is probably more to the concept that Bernstein was digging into than this, but I look forward to learning about that as we discuss in class.