The Ethics of Occultic Communication: An Invocation of Joshua Gunn and Sissela Bok

<p>Occultic rhetoric, according to Joshua Gunn, is a genre of discourse concerned with the study and practice of secret communications. The strategic sharing of secret messages involves a host of methods and conventions designed for the selective disclosure of hidden knowledge, thus controlling the boundaries of (and accessibility to power between) insider and outsider groups. Occultic rhetoric has its uses in everyday encounters, but the abuse of such manipulative strategies, especially by those in the academy and other positions of power and trust, calls for an ethical response. This dissertation submits occultic rhetoric to moral investigation by incorporating the works of Sissela Bok who examined the ethics of both secrecy and lying. By applying her principles to case studies of deliberately disguised or distorted messages in academic settings, this project suggests an approach for the moral exercise of secret communications, otherwise known as an ethics of occultic rhetoric.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication and Rhetorical Studies

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Begley, James Thomas, Jr.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Richard Harmon Thames
• Janie Marie Harden-Fritz
• Anthony M. Wachs

• rhetoric
• communication
• ethics
• secrecy
• jargon
• Joshua Gunn
• Sissela Bok
• occult
• lying
• obfuscation
• Applied Ethics
• Epistemology
• Philosophy of Language
• Speech and Rhetorical Studies

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1758

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2779