The Banality of Rhetoric? Assessing Steven Katz's “the Ethic of Expediency” against Current Scholarship on the Holocaust — Rhetoric & Composition

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2009

The Banality of Rhetoric? Assessing Steven Katz's “the Ethic of Expediency” against Current Scholarship on the Holocaust

Mark Ward Clemson University

Abstract

Since 1992, Steven Katz's “The Ethic of Expediency” on the rhetoric of technical communication during the Holocaust has become a reference point for discussions of ethics. But how does his thesis compare to current understandings of the Holocaust? As this article describes, Katz was in step with the trend two decades ago to universalize the lessons of the genocide but his thesis presents key problems for Holocaust scholars today. Against his assertion that pure technological expediency was the ethos of Nazi Germany, current scholarship emphasizes the role of ideology. Does that invalidate his thesis? Katz's analysis of rhetoric and his universalizing application to the Holocaust are two claims that may be considered separately. Yet even if one does not agree that “expediency” is inherent in Western rhetoric, Katz has raised awareness that phronesis is socially constructed so that rhetoric can be unethically employed. Thus, rather than remain an uncritically accepted heuristic for technical communicators, “The Ethic of Expediency” can be a starting point for ongoing exploration into the ethical and rhetorical dimensions of the genre.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2009-04-01
DOI: 10.2190/tw.39.2.f
Open Access: Closed
Topics: technical communication argument

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (6)

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Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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Guest Editorial: A Response to Patrick Moore's “Questioning the Motives of Tech…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Smith (2000)

Points of reference in technical communication scholarship

Technical Communication Quarterly
KATZ (1993)

Aristotle's Rhetoric, Hitler's Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, …

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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Rivers (1992)

A Comment on "The Ethic of Expediency"

College English

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CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network →