Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-083: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 083 Major Assignments (Summer 2020)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • June 11th: Continue with I, Robot
    • June 15th: Ethics and Perspective Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • June 16th: More on Ethics
    • June 1st: Effective Documents for Users
    • June 2nd: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • June 3rd: Technology in a Social Context
    • June 8th: Information Design and Visuals
    • June 9th: Proposals, Marketing, and Rhetoric
    • May 18th: Introduction to the course
    • May 19th: Critical Technological Awareness
    • May 20th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
    • May 21st: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • May 25th: More Resume Stuff
    • May 26th: Plain Language and Prose Revision
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • May 27th: More on Plain Language
    • May 28th: Review Prose Revision
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • February 3rd: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
    • January 20th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 27th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Spring 2021)
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 13th: Umberto Eco & Jean Baudrillard
    • April 20th: Moving Forward on Theory
    • April 27th: Last Day of Class
    • April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • February 10th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 17th: Knoblauch on Magical and Ontological Rhetoric
    • February 24th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 3rd: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • January 13th: Introduction to Class
    • January 27th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 16th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • March 23rd: Mythologies and Meaning of Meaning (part 2)
    • March 30th: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • March 9th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213/HTAS 2100: Science, Technology, and Society
    • December 10th: Violence in Video Games
    • December 15th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • December 1st: COVID-19 facial covering rhetoric
    • December 3rd: COVID-19 Transmission and Pandemics
    • December 8th: 500-word Essay
    • November 10th: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 12th: Frankenstein (1818) Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 17th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 19th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 3rd: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 1-17
    • November 5th: Planet of the Apes (1964) Ch. 18-26
    • October 13th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • October 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • October 1st: The Golem at Large Introduction & Ch. 1
    • October 22nd: The Time Machine
    • October 29th: H.G. Wells and Adaptations
    • October 6th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology) Ch. 2
    • October 8th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 3 & 4
    • September 10th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • September 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • September 17th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • September 22nd: Collins & Pinch Ch. 5 & 6
    • September 24th: Collins & Pinch Ch. 7 & Conclusion
    • September 29th: Test 1
    • September 8th: Introduction to Class
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory » April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition

April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition

“It is our business not to supply reality but to invent allusions to the conceivable which cannot be presented.” (Lyotard, p. 81)


Leading Class Discussion

Let’s have Hannah lead the class discussion on Lyotard. (For an origin of the name Hannah, check out this page.)

After this presentation/discussion, we’ll talk a little about the Rhetoric/al Project (due 4/27) and the readings for 4/20–you don’t have to read all of them–before moving on to the rest of today’s fun.

Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition

Although I wouldn’t claim Lyotard is an easy read, he is certainly more accessible than others we’ve read. Well, perhaps that bar’s height is relative. Anyway, all of you are pros at this stuff now, so it’s easy to draw connections. Before we get into the details of The Postmodern Condition, I’d like us to consider his essay “Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism?” I have a page devoted to that essay.

I particularly like Lyotard’s contributions to the rhetoric of science (and technology), but there’s also the idea of, well, postmodernism. Let’s talk about the term for a bit. I have a page devoted to it from another class, so let’s take a look. Remember, you aren’t expected to get a handle on it in one night, one reading, one lifetime…well, it’s not that difficult, but it’s a concept that requires work.

Terms to Define

The following terms are important to Lyotard’s discussion:

  • technocracy: the condition of regulating society (and its institutions) to reflect the spirit of the late Industrial Revolution and 20th century efficiency values
    • from wikipedia…
  • modernism: turn of the last century “condition” that observers and scholars claim influenced Western civilization; key attributes of art, architecture, and life are
    • sense of alienation
    • mass public; masses
    • drive for efficiency
    • apotheosis of technological solutions
    • militarization
  • high modernism: the period between WWI and WWII; often considered a more mature modernism than that of the historical avant-garde movements of Futurism, Vorticism, Imagism, Rayonism, and others of the 1910s
  • praxis: putting theory into practice
  • paralogy: against an established way of reasoning
  • pragmatics: linguistic field studying how context mediates/contributes to meaning
  • dialectics: dialogue, discourse, discussing between two, usually opposing, speakers attempting to come to truth through reason or (what’s considered established, valid) logic
  • didactics: having to do with instruction; pedagogy
  • positive science: value free or neutral science; how things are in absolute terms
  • positivism: the theory that science and scientific views reign; one can directly access the natural world through one’s senses (or technological protheses)
  • cybernetics: the study of structured systems and networks
  • Kant’s categorical imperative: an ethical philosophy that motivates a person’s action (or inaction) based on presummed duties (see also deontology)
  • catastrophe theory: mathematical study into the nature of how changes can or cannot effect the equilibrium of a system

There are probably more, but this is a good list to start with.

What’s this got to do with Rhetoric

I’m glad you asked. Rhetoric, as we’ve discussed, is about understanding the way(s) information is conveyed, how meaning is mediated by language and culture. Lyotard is mixing the two–language and (the subculture of) science. Here’s an important quotation on this:

  • “The scientific solution….is dialectical or even rhetorical in the forensic sense: a referent is that which is susceptible to proof and can be used as evidence in a debate….as long as I can produce proof, it is permissible to think that reality is the way I say it is.” (p. 24)

Discussion Questions/Points

Lyotard has lots to say in a pretty short space. I’ve come up with a few themes we ought to consider:

  • Legitimation
    • Pragmatics of Narrative (p. 21)
      • The 3 speech acts that constitute the social bond:
        1) of the speaker
        2) of the listener
        3) of the party referred to
      • The 3 compentencies
        1) know-how
        2) knowing how to speak
        3) knowing how to hear
    • Pragmatics of Scientific Knowledge
      • “Sender should speak the truth about the referent” (p. 23)
      • “The addressee…[may] give (or refuse) his [or her] assent to the statement [heard]” (p. 23)
      • “The referent…is supposed to be ‘expressed’ by [the speaker’s] statement in conformity with what it actually is” (p. 24)
    • What is false, non-legitimated narrative or scientific knowledge?
  • Technocracy
    • What makes our culture technocratic?
    • What are some examples of a technocratic worldview mediating decisions or life, in general?
    • What can we say about ideology and technology?
  • Performativity
  • Access to information
    • Who has access?
    • Who creates knowledge?
  • Who defines “important” research of the last century “condition” that observers and scholars claim influenced Western civilization; key attributes of art, architecture, and life are
    • sense of alienation
    • mass public; masses
    • drive for efficiency
    • apotheosis of technological solutions
    • militarization
  • Education (time permitting because I doubt we’ll have much to say…)
    • Student’s role…in the presence of the master!
    • My path to teaching
  • Insider information on moving through the academy
  • Jameson’s introduction: “non-class formations such as bureaucracy and technocracy” (p. xiv)

Anything else?

Key Points in the Text

We could discuss this work for several class periods. I’m hoping the above is a way to get a handle on it, but we can also pick key quotations and run with them. Time permitting…

  • p. 4: “Knowledge is and will be produced in order to be sold, it is and will be consumed in order to be valorized in a new production: in both cases, the goal is exchange.”
  • p. 11: “The true goal of the system, the reason it programs itself like a computer, is the optimization of the global relationship between input and output–in other words, performativity.”
  • p. 14: “Access to data is, and will continue to be, the prerogative of experts of all stripes. The ruling class is and will continue to be the class of decision makers.”
  • p. 26: “A statement of science gains no validity from the fact of being reported. Even in the case of pedagogy, it is taught only if it is still verifiable in the present through argumentation and proof.”
  • p. 39: “Stripped of the responsibility for research (which was stifled by the speculative narrative), they limit themselves to the transmission of what is judged to be established knowledge, and through didactics they guarantee the replication of teachers rather than the production of researchers.”
  • p. 46: “Scientists, technicians, and instruments are purchased not to find truth, but to augment power.”
    • p. 47: “This is how legitimation by power takes shape….It is self-legitimating, in the same way a system organized around performance maximization seems to be.”
    • p. 47: “the criterion of performance is explicitly invoked by the authorities to justify their refusal to subsidize certain research centers.”
    • Guess what types of “research centers” are being funded now? Let’s come up with some key words.
  • p. 49: “the ‘democratic’ university…which was modeled along the principles of emancipationist humanism, today seems to offer little in the way of performance.”
  • p. 57: “In pragmatic terms, [the idea that nature is indifferent] means that in the natural sciences ‘nature’ is the referent–mute, but as predictable as a die thrown a great number of times–about which scientists exchange denotative utterances constituting moves they play against on another.”
    • From IEP: “The “denotative” is an utterance which attempts to correctly identify the object or referent to which it refers (such as ‘Snow is white’).” (b. “The Postmodern Condition,” para. 3—http://www.iep.utm.edu/lyotard/#H4)
  • p. 60: “We no longer have recourse to the grand narratives–we can resort neither to the dialectic of Spirit nor even to the emancipation of humanity as a validation for postmodern scientific discourse.”
  • p. 63: “Rights do not flow from hardship, but from the fact that the alleviation of hardship improves the system’s performance….the system seems to be a vanguard machine dragging humanity after it, dehumanizing it in order to rehumanize it at a different level of normative capacity.”

I don’t think we should conclude that Lyotard calls for an anti-science nihilism. Instead, he (and others) are arguing against replacing devotion to a deity with devotion to a Grand Narrative of Science–an institution that answers all questions and leads to truth. Be aware of the game of science, but don’t dismiss the fact the sea levels are rising!

Next Week’s Readings

We’re not just going to get “real” next week; we’re going to get hyperreal. Your two readings are on Canvas: Umberto Eco’s “Travels in Hyperreality” & Jean Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation.”

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