Philosophy & Rhetoric Jan 2013

Tonality and <i>Ethos</i>

Matthew M. Heard

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on attunement as a concept that intervenes in the question of how we learn to act ethically in the face of radical alterity. I use Jacques Derrida's concept of a “contraband” tonality and Gilles Deleuze's discussion of “haptic” tone to argue that tonality resonates with dimensions of affect and desire that cannot be accommodated through familiar interpretive acts of listening, hearing, and seeing. Because we are unable to fully understand and account for the tonality of others, the article suggests, we need to approach attunement as a disposition or ethos that prolongs our engagement with the alterity of others' marks and noises. Repositioned as living practice, attunement can redefine ethical action by drawing attention to the material, physical, and emotional challenges of preserving what Diane Davis calls a “radically hospitable opening to alterity.”

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2013-01-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.46.1.0044
Open Access
Closed
Topics
argument affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Gunn (2014)
    Canned Laughter
    Philosophy & Rhetoric

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Gunn (2008)
    Size Matters: Polytoning Rhetoric's Perverse Apocalypse
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Lundberg et al. (2005)
    “Ouija board, are there any communications?” Agency, ontotheology, and the deat…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Davis (2001)
    Finitude's Clamor; Or, Notes toward a Communitarian Literacy
    College Composition and Communication
Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓
  1. Biesecker, Barbara. 2011. “Whither Ideology? Toward a Different Take on Enjoyment as a Political Factor.” Wes…
     ↗
  2. Davis, Diane. 2005. “Addressing Alterity: Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and the Nonappropriative Relation.” Philoso…
     ↗
  3. Foss, Sonja K., and Cindy L. Griffin. 1995. “Beyond Persuasion: A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric.” Com…
     ↗
  4. Harrison, John, and Simon Baron-Cohen. 1995. “Synaesthesia: Reconciling the Subjective with the Objective.” E…
     ↗
  5. McCarthy, T. J. 2002. “Literary Practice in Eleventh-Century Music Theory: The Colores Rhetorici and Aribo's …
     ↗
  6. Smith, Daniel L. 2003. “Intensifying Phronesis: Heidegger, Aristotle, and Rhetorical Culture.” Philosophy and…
     ↗
  7. Weheliye, Alexander. 2005. Phonographies: Grooves in Sonic Afro-Modernity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Writing Center Journal 2023
    Effectively Affective: Examining the Ethos of One HBCU Writing Center ↗
    Karen Keaton Jackson; Amara Hand
    writing centers argument affect and writing
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2020
    Do Writing Errors Bother Professionals? An Analysis of the Most Bothersome Errors and How the Writer’s Ethos is Affected ↗
    Carolyn Gubala; Kara Larson; Lisa Melonçon
    professional writing argument affect and writing
  3. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2019
    Rhetorizing Philosophy: Toward a “Double Reading” of Philosophical Texts ↗
    Gerald Posselt
    argument affect and writing
  4. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2013
    The Reasonable and the Sensible: ↗
    Don J. Kraemer
    argument affect and writing
  5. Enculturation Sep 2012
    Smart Media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ↗
    jonmck
    digital rhetoric multimodality multilingual writers argument affect and writing