Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 1993

Aristotle's Rhetoric, Hitler's Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse

STEVEN B. KATZ

Abstract

Technical-professional communication as praxis, or social action, is extended beyond skill or amoral art into the realm of phronesis, concerned with reasoning about ends rather than means. However, praxis and phronesis are sociologically constructed and, like social-epistemic rhetoric, ideologically defined in the political context by the ethic of expediency enabling deliberative rhetoric. Hitler's use of propaganda to construct praxis and define phronesis in Nazi Germany is examined in terms of the rational but open-ended nature of Aristotle's political-ethical thought, and the implications for our understanding of Aristotelian praxis is discussed. Finally, the failure of professional discourse surrounding the siting of a low-level nuclear waste facility to create a persuasive reality and yet ideologically construct praxis is examined, raising questions concerning the possibility of a deliberative technical rhetoric in U.S. democracy.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1993-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651993007001003
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Bay et al. (2025)
    Creating and Sustaining an Antiracist Pedagogy Group in Technical and Professio…
    Pedagogy
  2. Li (2022)
    Defining the racial and ethnic “other”: Constructing an American identity throu…
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  3. Duncan (2022)
    “Expanding Ethical Pedagogy in Technical Communication: Learning from Killer Na…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Beale et al. (2016)
    “Good” Grief: Subversion, Praxis, and the Unmasked Ethics of Griefing Guides
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Boedy (2015)
    The Evil in Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 16 →
  1. Ward (2010)
    The Ethic of Exigence
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Ward (2009)
    The Banality of Rhetoric? Assessing Steven Katz's “the Ethic of Expediency” aga…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Katz (2006)
    Guest Editorial: A Response to Patrick Moore's “Questioning the Motives of Tech…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Scott (2004)
    Tracking Rapid HIV Testing Through the Cultural Circuit
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Salvo (1999)
    Trauma, narration, technology: user-ordered representation and the Holocaust
    Computers and Composition
  6. Affeldt (1996)
    Deepening the Responsibility: A Social Epistemic Approach to the Ethics of Prof…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Schroll (1995)
    Technology and communication ethics: An evaluative framework
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Scott (1995)
    Sophistic ethics in the technical writing classroom: Teaching<i>nomos,</i>delib…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Katz (1995)
    The epistemology of the Kabbalah: Toward a Jewish philosophy of rhetoric
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  10. Sullivan (1994)
    A closer look at education as epideictic rhetoric
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  11. Blyler (1994)
    Habermas, empowerment, and professional discourse
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (8)

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    College English
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CrossRef global citation count: 19 View in citation network →

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