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
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Pedagogy
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 16 →
  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Computers and Composition
  6. Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  10. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  11. Technical Communication Quarterly

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