From logocentrism to ethocentrism: Historicizing critiques of writing research

Davida Charney The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

Since the 1960s, attitudes toward empirical research on writing, including research on technical/professional writing, have shifted from encouragement to resistance. This essay traces these shifts in light of changes in writing research, psychology, and the rhetoric of science. In composition studies, an initial mild uneasiness about “scientism”; intensified with the rise of process models, suggesting a Romanticist defense of the mystique of creativity. More recent post‐modernist denunciations of scientific methods as immoral have other Romanticist overtones. In technical communication, a long‐standing interest in workplace writing practices allowed a smoother integration of empirical analysis with descriptive studies of writing contexts. However, as in composition, recent critiques in technical communication suggest that empirical methods should not be employed. These critiques too tightly circumscribe the values that may be considered humanist and cut off important avenues of inquiry and critique that historically have advanced both the sciences and humanities.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
1998-01-01
DOI
10.1080/10572259809364615
Open Access
Closed

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (8)

  1. College Composition and Communication
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Written Communication
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 8 →
  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (15)

  1. College Composition and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Research in the Teaching of English
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 15 →
  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Written Communication
  4. Rhetoric Review
  5. Research in the Teaching of English
  6. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Research in the Teaching of English
  8. College English
  9. Research in the Teaching of English
  10. College English
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