I want to pause briefly from my late night studies to make an observation of some importance.  I have been struggling in my mind to establish strongly the connection of a great interest of mine, Rhetoric, to the other two branches of my study, philosophy and technology studies. This was really important because, well, rhetoric is the field I’ll be trained most heavily in and wherein I will teach and have to do a bulk of my work. I have known it connected strongly but I haven’t been able to articulate it the best, either in words or in my own mind. But as I sit here and read Aristotle’s Rhetoric it begins to become clear.

The technology studies-philosophy connection is clear because of what I call the “technology of philosophy” as opposed to the “philosophy of technology.” That is, that philosophy itself is molded by our technology because our technology makes up the core of our world and expands and shapes our ability to comprehend it.

This in itself assumes an anti-realist or relational knowledge point of view, that there is no such thing as “Subjective” or “objective.” Rather, while there may be a real Truth, our work consists entirely of constructing views of this truth that are merely heuristics or convenient ways of viewing the world–which might even work to, what do you know, make more technology.

In a world such as this, then, truth itself becomes constructed and construcatable. But how do we prevent ourselves from heading towards the terrifying territory of complete relativism where we lose sight completely of any concept of truth? Am I saying we just make everything up? No! It is in our relationship TO the world and our interaction with it that we create conceptions of the world and of truth. What is rhetoric? Narrowly defined in the greek sense it is about persuasion. In the broader sense, rhetoric is human ability to bring about action or force within the world. Given the existential view of our essence or being as more fundamental to anything else–as Sartre says, “we are made through our actions”–then we are essentially shaping truth and ourselves through our forms of rhetoric.

It is essential then as we move through the difficulties ahead in redefining ourselves within a new technological landscape that we formulate and enact new ways of being in the world yet still retain some element of ground, some relation to understanding, to the so-called “truth” of things. How we work out this truth is essential to our whole existence and to the perpetual progression of things. Thus rhetoric is intimately tied up in technology studies and philosophy, is even the core of the whole project. It therefore makes sense that I put it at the center of my studies.

Plus, rhetoric will get me an academic job easier than the other two