Philosophy & Rhetoric Dec 2012

Orator-Machine:

Matthew S. May

Abstract

AbstractOratorical practice may be viewed as the material enactment of a philosophy of class struggle. Drawing on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, I propose “orator-machine” as a concept-term to describe speech making in the context of the open exterior of interconnected human and nonhuman machinic assemblages in capitalist modernity. My argument is based on a reconsideration of a single address, delivered by William D. “Big Bill” Haywood in 1911 at the Cooper Union in New York City. Reading Haywood against the grain—as a conceptual innovator—allows me to demonstrate a mode of analysis that affirms the philosophical quality and ontological politics of oratorical performance.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2012-12-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.45.4.0429
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Bost (2018)
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    The Surplus of the Machine: Trope and History inThe Eighteenth Brumaire of Loui…
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  3. Brown (2014)
    The Machine That Therefore I Am
    Philosophy & Rhetoric

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