Category Archives: rhetoric

How I Pick My Battles

One of my friends asked a provocative question over facebook this morning. Those familiar with this blog’s history will likely know its source. But it is a great question. My answer might be a little “blue,” but I think it … Continue reading

Posted in ethics, kairos, levinas, rhetoric, sophistry | Comments Off on How I Pick My Battles

Quintilian Responds to Plato

Addressing the idea that rhetoric be forbidden because it is capable of evil: Under such a mode of reasoning, neither will generals, nor magistrates, nor medicine, nor even wisdom itself, be of any utility; […] in the hands of physicians … Continue reading

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Here, Hear Ulmer (Or, U Might Learn Electracy, Really)

Today professor Ulmer visited University of South Florida to give a talk on electracy and have a discussion with our graduate students. I had the pleasure of introducing Professor Ulmer. Here’s my introduction (I have some notes from the talk … Continue reading

Posted in derrida, electracy, mystory, pedagogy, rhetoric, rhetoric-and-technology, ulmer | Comments Off on Here, Hear Ulmer (Or, U Might Learn Electracy, Really)

Latour, Gorgias, and Levinas Take 15

This article keeps beating me up–every time I think I know what I am doing, it runs away. I believe I am finally whipping it in to shape, but I want to make sure the following paragraphs make sense to … Continue reading

Posted in ethics, gorgias, harman, latour, levinas, politics, rhetoric, sophistry, theory | Comments Off on Latour, Gorgias, and Levinas Take 15

Week One, Spring 2011

Our first week of classes is coming to a close. My New Media class read Walter Ong’s “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought” and will be remediating the essay into (x)html this weekend. I haven’t read that article in … Continue reading

Posted in davis, davis-review, new-media-class, research, resilient-tampa-bay, rhetoric, rhetoric-and-technology, selber-review, spring-2011, teaching, visual-rhetoric-class | Comments Off on Week One, Spring 2011

Berlin, Vitanza, and Self/Assessment

Last night my graduate course on Contemporary Rhetoric spent some time in 1996; we discussed two important treatments of postmodern theory in Rhetoric and Composition–Vitanza and Berlin. Below is the lecture I gave. Those who shared a former life with … Continue reading

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Institutional Responsibility

The other day a colleague and I were discussing what to teach in this post-postmodern age, generally agreeing that rehashing the theory-science wars was counterproductive, and that teaching deconstructive critique (as a purely epistemological exercise) was out of steam. See … Continue reading

Posted in contemporary-rhetoric, derrida, rhetoric, teaching, theory | Comments Off on Institutional Responsibility

Plato’s Laches

In an effort to put more up on this blog, I’m going to start publishing my reading notes from Evernote. Today, I came across a reference to the Laches dialogue in Brad McAdon’s 2004 article “Plato’s Denunciation of Rhetoric in … Continue reading

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Toward Kair-erotically Thinking Techno-Determinism

I spent the morning today doing some reading/writing on my Computers and Writing presentation, which will deal explicitly with how social media played a role in diagnosing and dealing with my daughter’s cancer. One article that I read today was … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, computers-and-writing, corder, derrida, digital-citizenship, digital-media, ethics, internet, levinas, mcluhan, network, ong, posthuman, rhetoric, technology, web2.0 | Comments Off on Toward Kair-erotically Thinking Techno-Determinism

Chickens, Eggs, Opinions, Identities

Today I asked my classes which of the following is more true: I pick my friends based on my beliefs I pick my beliefs based on my friends We were discussing the opening chapter to Crowley and Hawhee’s Ancient Rhetorics … Continue reading

Posted in levinas, rhetoric | Comments Off on Chickens, Eggs, Opinions, Identities