Chemical Engineering courses are often difficult for students. Among the multitude of reasons acc... more Chemical Engineering courses are often difficult for students. Among the multitude of reasons accounting for this difficulty are communication issues – what scholar I. A. Richards would call “stud[ies] of misunderstanding and its remedies1. ” That is, questions arise such as: what communication “works ” for students?; what communication is ineffective in helping students learn?; and how does communication contribute to the overall learning environment in which students must operate? To answer these questions, the following study is being conducted. This investigation seeks to use ethnographic research (study by immersion) to identify an organizational communication culture for an introductory chemical engineering classroom. Additionally, the study will identify how students and the instructor work within the culture they are constructing to achieve the syllabus goals of “develop[ing] basic skills of chemical engineering analysis, ” “learn[ing] the language of chemical engineering, ”...
From its earliest years, symbolic interactionism (SI) has concentrated upon the event-specific re... more From its earliest years, symbolic interactionism (SI) has concentrated upon the event-specific relations individuals have with each other, creating thereby steady growth in the general explanation and situationally specific analysis of interaction processes. But there are also studies of world-historic incidents, processes, states of affair, and large-scale social transformations that are radically indebted to the methods of SI as well as interactionists (at heart if not by self-identification) who have rendered these processes and events for us. This is not to say that sociology's self-attributed, micro-macro gap-and-strain can be dismissed as a chimera. Students who entered the field, even in the 1990s such as myself, still found it lingering as a social fact, structurally evident in terms of the office-locations of particular sociologists, or the pathways such faculty traveled within the department, or the choice of members one might wisely gather for a thesis committee-all three examples of observable SI that helped calculating students form a definition of the situation. Nevertheless, there have always been academics of passionate mind who could both speak and respect what would be for them, in this sense, a second language. Three decades before me, for example, Talcott Parsons maintained a personal friendship that included weekend intellectual visits with Kenneth Burke. It was Parsons who invited Burke's Dramatism contribution to the monumental Theories of Society , and Parsons also used both published and unpublished works by Burke to renew the Durkheimian notion that early religious forms and practices evolve into contemporary artistic productions that help to organize an "ultimately meaningful concept of what constitutes conformity with the nature of things and of what constitutes disorder" (Parsons et al. 1961:970), thereby making both societies and sociological studies themselves possible. Likewise,
The present essay includes the only extant translation of a famous address given by Don Miguel de... more The present essay includes the only extant translation of a famous address given by Don Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, at the University of Salamanca's annual, course-launching ritual. Given that the event's festivities would include his formal resignation from the school's rectorship on that day, followed by his honorary appointment as Lifetime Rector, Unamuno composed his speech to sum up his soul's literary journey through this world. In it, the scholar and poet effectively renders his chosen life as a rhetorical vocationconsequently, he makes claims such as "man is the animal that speaks," (a claim that resonates with Kenneth Burke) and "the spoken word is action" (a claim which is at the heart of a 100-year tradition in speech act theory). This being so, scholars of communication might be stimulated by his ideas and influenced by his relevance to rhetoric and communication. A prefatory essay, "Communication as a Dialectical Engagement with Becoming" is provided by the translator along with a copy-corrected version of the open-source Spanish original of the Unamuno translation in an Appendix.
This essay is predicated on the belief that ethics educators should guide students toward a prope... more This essay is predicated on the belief that ethics educators should guide students toward a proper understanding of conscience. To that end, conscience and the qualities that are intertwined with it and make it possible are set forth.
The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both a... more The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both as people speak and as they live them. Subjectivity is associated with doing, hence responsibility, and therefore it noticeably slides in matters of credit and blame, with issues like Newton's or LaPlace's discovery. In scientific papers the subject has an ironic status, as illustrated by such expressions as, "The subject was given a mild dose...." In this statement the subject is the receiver rather than the performer of an action. This primary rhetorical move of science is only half completed, however, and requires the additional objectification of the subject (the scientist) to make it whole. Beneath the thin veil of language, however, the scientist is present as the subject--not only as the puller of levers but also as he or she who adopts a certain position toward "the subject." Excerpts from three autobiographical writings--concerning the electroconvulsive therapy of Uglo Cerletti, the lobotomy of Egaz Moniz, and the electrode implantations of Jose Delgado--demonstrate the extent to which scientists can objectify their subjects. However, the writings also demonstrat , the extent to which these scientists cannot eliminate their own subjectivity. In describing their works, their subjectivity surfaces as egoistic absorption. Characteristically, the researchers reveal themselves as pioneers, venturing into unknown territory with courage, forthrightness, and insight. (Contains 14 references.' (TB) Reproduclions supplied by DOS arc the best lhai can ht-mhde from the original document.
Postmodernism charges that sociological methods project ways of thinking and being from the past ... more Postmodernism charges that sociological methods project ways of thinking and being from the past onto the future, and that sociological forms of presentation are rhetorical defenses of ideologies. Postmodernism contends that sociological theory presents reified constructs no more based in reality than are fictional accounts. Kenneth Burke's logology predates and adequately addresses postmodernism's valid charges against sociology. At the same time, logology avoids the idealistic tendencies and ethical pitfalls of radical forms of postmodernist deconstruction, which acknowledge neither pretextual and extratextual worlds nor the ways in which experience is embodied. While not fully articulated, Burke's logology gives primacy to an embodied, social world prior to text (Body-as-World). Sociology can strengthen both its theoretical arsenal and its response to postmodernism by reacknowledging and reclaiming Burke's logology.
This article describes answerability, a fundamental component of social reason and action. “Holdi... more This article describes answerability, a fundamental component of social reason and action. “Holding answerable” and “being answerable” are characterized in terms of their roles in the drama of human relations, and our general tendency to anticipate answerable, rather than ethical, behavior in situations that are ethically problematic is discussed.
Was Durkheim an apologist for the authoritarianism? Is the sociology founded upon his work incapa... more Was Durkheim an apologist for the authoritarianism? Is the sociology founded upon his work incapable of critical perspective; and must it operate under the presumption that social agents, including sociologists themselves, are incapable of reflexivity? Certainly some have said so, but they may be wrong. In this essay, I address these questions in the light of Durkheim's revisionary sociology of morals. I elaborate on unfinished elements in Durkheim's abruptly concluded (because of his early and unexpected death) scholarship, pointing out Durkheim's recognition that co-present moral spheres always exist in an organically complex society, and explaining how these co-present spheres obligate social agents to untether from any absolute moral affiliations. Ultimately, then, the argument shows how the solidarity/social-order relationship is transcended within Durkheim's sociology, even by Durkheim himself.
Chemical Engineering courses are often difficult for students. Among the multitude of reasons acc... more Chemical Engineering courses are often difficult for students. Among the multitude of reasons accounting for this difficulty are communication issues – what scholar I. A. Richards would call “stud[ies] of misunderstanding and its remedies1. ” That is, questions arise such as: what communication “works ” for students?; what communication is ineffective in helping students learn?; and how does communication contribute to the overall learning environment in which students must operate? To answer these questions, the following study is being conducted. This investigation seeks to use ethnographic research (study by immersion) to identify an organizational communication culture for an introductory chemical engineering classroom. Additionally, the study will identify how students and the instructor work within the culture they are constructing to achieve the syllabus goals of “develop[ing] basic skills of chemical engineering analysis, ” “learn[ing] the language of chemical engineering, ”...
From its earliest years, symbolic interactionism (SI) has concentrated upon the event-specific re... more From its earliest years, symbolic interactionism (SI) has concentrated upon the event-specific relations individuals have with each other, creating thereby steady growth in the general explanation and situationally specific analysis of interaction processes. But there are also studies of world-historic incidents, processes, states of affair, and large-scale social transformations that are radically indebted to the methods of SI as well as interactionists (at heart if not by self-identification) who have rendered these processes and events for us. This is not to say that sociology's self-attributed, micro-macro gap-and-strain can be dismissed as a chimera. Students who entered the field, even in the 1990s such as myself, still found it lingering as a social fact, structurally evident in terms of the office-locations of particular sociologists, or the pathways such faculty traveled within the department, or the choice of members one might wisely gather for a thesis committee-all three examples of observable SI that helped calculating students form a definition of the situation. Nevertheless, there have always been academics of passionate mind who could both speak and respect what would be for them, in this sense, a second language. Three decades before me, for example, Talcott Parsons maintained a personal friendship that included weekend intellectual visits with Kenneth Burke. It was Parsons who invited Burke's Dramatism contribution to the monumental Theories of Society , and Parsons also used both published and unpublished works by Burke to renew the Durkheimian notion that early religious forms and practices evolve into contemporary artistic productions that help to organize an "ultimately meaningful concept of what constitutes conformity with the nature of things and of what constitutes disorder" (Parsons et al. 1961:970), thereby making both societies and sociological studies themselves possible. Likewise,
The present essay includes the only extant translation of a famous address given by Don Miguel de... more The present essay includes the only extant translation of a famous address given by Don Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, at the University of Salamanca's annual, course-launching ritual. Given that the event's festivities would include his formal resignation from the school's rectorship on that day, followed by his honorary appointment as Lifetime Rector, Unamuno composed his speech to sum up his soul's literary journey through this world. In it, the scholar and poet effectively renders his chosen life as a rhetorical vocationconsequently, he makes claims such as "man is the animal that speaks," (a claim that resonates with Kenneth Burke) and "the spoken word is action" (a claim which is at the heart of a 100-year tradition in speech act theory). This being so, scholars of communication might be stimulated by his ideas and influenced by his relevance to rhetoric and communication. A prefatory essay, "Communication as a Dialectical Engagement with Becoming" is provided by the translator along with a copy-corrected version of the open-source Spanish original of the Unamuno translation in an Appendix.
This essay is predicated on the belief that ethics educators should guide students toward a prope... more This essay is predicated on the belief that ethics educators should guide students toward a proper understanding of conscience. To that end, conscience and the qualities that are intertwined with it and make it possible are set forth.
The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both a... more The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both as people speak and as they live them. Subjectivity is associated with doing, hence responsibility, and therefore it noticeably slides in matters of credit and blame, with issues like Newton's or LaPlace's discovery. In scientific papers the subject has an ironic status, as illustrated by such expressions as, "The subject was given a mild dose...." In this statement the subject is the receiver rather than the performer of an action. This primary rhetorical move of science is only half completed, however, and requires the additional objectification of the subject (the scientist) to make it whole. Beneath the thin veil of language, however, the scientist is present as the subject--not only as the puller of levers but also as he or she who adopts a certain position toward "the subject." Excerpts from three autobiographical writings--concerning the electroconvulsive therapy of Uglo Cerletti, the lobotomy of Egaz Moniz, and the electrode implantations of Jose Delgado--demonstrate the extent to which scientists can objectify their subjects. However, the writings also demonstrat , the extent to which these scientists cannot eliminate their own subjectivity. In describing their works, their subjectivity surfaces as egoistic absorption. Characteristically, the researchers reveal themselves as pioneers, venturing into unknown territory with courage, forthrightness, and insight. (Contains 14 references.' (TB) Reproduclions supplied by DOS arc the best lhai can ht-mhde from the original document.
Postmodernism charges that sociological methods project ways of thinking and being from the past ... more Postmodernism charges that sociological methods project ways of thinking and being from the past onto the future, and that sociological forms of presentation are rhetorical defenses of ideologies. Postmodernism contends that sociological theory presents reified constructs no more based in reality than are fictional accounts. Kenneth Burke's logology predates and adequately addresses postmodernism's valid charges against sociology. At the same time, logology avoids the idealistic tendencies and ethical pitfalls of radical forms of postmodernist deconstruction, which acknowledge neither pretextual and extratextual worlds nor the ways in which experience is embodied. While not fully articulated, Burke's logology gives primacy to an embodied, social world prior to text (Body-as-World). Sociology can strengthen both its theoretical arsenal and its response to postmodernism by reacknowledging and reclaiming Burke's logology.
This article describes answerability, a fundamental component of social reason and action. “Holdi... more This article describes answerability, a fundamental component of social reason and action. “Holding answerable” and “being answerable” are characterized in terms of their roles in the drama of human relations, and our general tendency to anticipate answerable, rather than ethical, behavior in situations that are ethically problematic is discussed.
Was Durkheim an apologist for the authoritarianism? Is the sociology founded upon his work incapa... more Was Durkheim an apologist for the authoritarianism? Is the sociology founded upon his work incapable of critical perspective; and must it operate under the presumption that social agents, including sociologists themselves, are incapable of reflexivity? Certainly some have said so, but they may be wrong. In this essay, I address these questions in the light of Durkheim's revisionary sociology of morals. I elaborate on unfinished elements in Durkheim's abruptly concluded (because of his early and unexpected death) scholarship, pointing out Durkheim's recognition that co-present moral spheres always exist in an organically complex society, and explaining how these co-present spheres obligate social agents to untether from any absolute moral affiliations. Ultimately, then, the argument shows how the solidarity/social-order relationship is transcended within Durkheim's sociology, even by Durkheim himself.
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