Circulated Epideictic: The Technical Image and Digital Consensus

Jeff Rice University of Kentucky

Abstract

This article explores the epideictic nature of online discourse, or what might be considered a digital version of social knowledge. In particular, it draws from Vilém Flusser's concept of the technical image, the image projected as singular but that is, in fact, layered with many other meanings. Working from two primary examples—the resignation of University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe and the reporting of Israeli flooding of a Gazan valley—the article theorizes how a consensus is constructed as a technical image and thus problematizes the nature of consensus in specific rhetorical moments.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2017-08-15
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.50.3.0272
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