Category Archives: sophistry

Levinas and the Sophistic Virtue of “Deception”

I’m reading this passage across Latour’s insistence upon chains of translations (Pandora’s Hope) and Susan Jarratt’s explication of Gorgias notion of Apate (deception) as virtue); Levinas, from his interview with Philippe Nemo: A radical reflection, obstinate about itself, a cogito … Continue reading

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Colbert, Citizens United, and Irony

Apparently I live under some kind of rock, because today was the first I heard of Steven Colbert’s PAC. There’s a short article over at Slate documenting Colbert’s attack on the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision. A few random thoughts: … Continue reading

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King Moonraiser

“Unlike playthings a living creature cannot hide himself on an island.”

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Davis on Derrida; What Levinas Offers Latour

Via Blogora, a video lecture by D. Diane Davis on Derrida, deconstruction, gratitude, and debt: Derrida and gratitude: thinking always has a debt. “The image of the trail blazing subject, self sufficient and completely independent is, of course, a metaphysical … Continue reading

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Zakaria and Political Reality

I missed a post yesterday, so two posts today. First, a brief comment on Zakarias’ article “How Conservatism Has Lost Touch with Reality. A friend has a rather scathing response to Zakarias over at his blog, arguing that Zakarias is … Continue reading

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Burke, Sophistry, and Ecological Rhetoric

I wrote this in response to a graduate students’ project on Kenneth Burke. I didn’t want to lose it, so I’ll stick it here: Burke shares quite a bit with the Sophists because they both believe that rhetoric is metaphysical, … Continue reading

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What is Rhetoric?

Our FYC program writes and publishes their own textbook every year. This year, they asked me to write a short introduction addressing what rhetoric is and why one might study it. Here’s my answer (probably rife with errors, it could … Continue reading

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How I Pick My Battles

One of my friends asked a provocative question over facebook this morning. Those familiar with this blog’s history will likely know its source. But it is a great question. My answer might be a little “blue,” but I think it … Continue reading

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Latour, Gorgias, and Levinas Take 15

This article keeps beating me up–every time I think I know what I am doing, it runs away. I believe I am finally whipping it in to shape, but I want to make sure the following paragraphs make sense to … Continue reading

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Not All Things Are Equally True

I’ve had a few posts up recently regarding healthcare reform, most recently T.R. Reid’s 5 myths regarding international approaches to healthcare. Casey recently pointed me towards Ann Coulter’s echo of Reid’s piece, writing that he found it quite convincing. I … Continue reading

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