Philosophical Origins of the Concept Technical Writing

Semon Strobos

doi:10.2190/g6wp-8rpb-nr5f-f7jr

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 1992

Philosophical Origins of the Concept Technical Writing

Semon Strobos B. Braun (United States)

Abstract

This article collects several examples of technical and creative writing in order to examine whether the differences which have been assumed to exist between the two genres do in fact exist. The formulation of such a dichotomy is traced from I. A. Richards' definition of “poetic vs scientific” writing through C. P. Snow's Two Cultures to Coleridge's Biographia Literaria (Richards' acknowledged source). Coleridge in turn has been shown to be heavily influenced by, in fact to have plagiarized, the work of German idealists, particularly the Schlegels. The German idealists, finally, were working with dichotomies which originate in Cartesian dualism and thus ultimately in the mind/body dichotomy with whose invention Nietzsche credits, or discredits, Plato. The differences and similarities discovered and discussed between the object texts turn out to be governed by Richards' elements of writing—“sense, feeling, tone and intention”—as these elements have been used to dichotomize technical and creative writing. Such previous formulations have attempted to show differences in what Aristotle termed “material cause.” The material causes—the tropes and devices of description—are in fact the same in technical and creative texts. The actual differences and similarities discovered between and among the object texts are, rather, differences governed by Aristotle's “final cause” ( telos).

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 1992-07-01
DOI: 10.2190/g6wp-8rpb-nr5f-f7jr
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Open Access: Closed
Topics: classical rhetoric genre theory creative writing technical communication
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Cited by in this index (1)

Valletta et al. (1995)

“In-Determinacy” in Science and Discourse: A Rhetoric of Disciplinary Levels

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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Philosophical Origins of the Concept Technical Writing

Abstract

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

References (19)

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