Philosophy & Rhetoric Nov 2014

Autozoography: Notes Toward a Rhetoricity of the Living

Diane Davis The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

Abstract In philosophy and rhetorical studies, self-knowledge inscribes the absolutely indivisible line that separates “the human” from “the animal.” Autodeixis, the self-reflexive power of the I, is the condition both for language acquisition and for reason; it names an exceptional sort of auto–affection in which a being demonstrates the capacity to step back from itself enough to recognize itself and so to refer to itself as itself. What I propose in this article, however, is that autodeixis involves not a specifically human power to disclose an ontological as such (as Heidegger wanted) but the extrahuman operations of an allegorical as if. The presumption of self-knowledge is not an innate quality of “the human” but the already relational condition for any living being that must repeat itself to be itself. A kind of preoriginary rhetoricity, I argue, is the very condition for the singularity and functioning of any living being.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2014-11-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.47.4.0533
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multilingual writers affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Cowan (2025)
    The Post Always Arrives: Purloined Messaging Among Rhetoric, Psychoanalysis, an…
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  2. Arthos (2023)
    Escaping the Prison House of Effects: The Persistence of an Anachronism in Rhet…
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  3. Szymanski (2023)
    Conversations with Other-than-Human Creatures: Unpacking the Ambiguity of “with…
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  4. Murray (2017)
    On Rhetoric and the School of Philosophy Without Tears
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  5. Walsh et al. (2017)
    Forum: Bruno Latour on Rhetoric
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Show all 9 →
  1. Pomykala (2017)
    Snake(s)kin: The Intertwining <i>Mêtis</i> …
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  2. Gordon et al. (2017)
    A Rhetorical Bestiary
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  3. Pfister (2017)
    Against the Droid's “Instrument of Efficiency,” For Animalizing Technologies in…
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  4. Stormer et al. (2017)
    Thinking Ecologically About Rhetoric's Ontology: Capacity, Vulnerability, and R…
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Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network →

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