Inexorable Burden: Rhetoric and Togetherness

<p>This dissertation employs philology and cultural analysis to reassess longstanding notions in rhetorical theory and moral philosophy (via classical rhetoric and technical communication). In particular, I use diachronic analyses of the terms telos, symbouleutikon, and sympheron (from Aristotle to present) as a theoretical springboard to reassess more contemporary issues in rhetoric and technical communication. The technical communication topics this dissertation covers include criticisms of expediency as a motive in technical communication; the changing landscape of instruction manual composition; the role of purpose-completion and stakeholder awareness in visual rhetoric; and the futility of advancing ideology-free technical writing pedagogies. More theoretical topics this dissertation covers include Kenneth Burke's notions of rhetorical "war" and entelechy; the pluralistic underpinnings of Kantian moral philosophy; and the rhetorical utility of democratic inefficiency.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year

2013

Author dc:creator

• McKay, Ethan Sproat

Contributors dc:contributor

• Thomas Rickert
• Jennifer Bay
• Richard Johnson- Sheehan
• Patricia Sullivan

• Aristotle
• deliberation
• democracy
• Kenneth Burke
• technical communication
• telos
• Ethics and Political Philosophy
• Philosophy
• Rhetoric

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/54

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-1162