Rhetorical Theory and Criticism: Rhetorical Theory

Wed. 2:00pm-5:00pm, Moffit 340 /// 

This seminar will address the problem of thinking the political in the contemporary era. The first half of the semester will be taken up by close readings of Carl Schmitt’s texts on law, technology, and the political, spanning his career, from the Weimar Republic, through the Nazi era, and then the Cold War. We will then look at how new theorizations of technology in the later 20th century challenge Schmitt’s concepts. Key figures will include: Hannah Arendt, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Francois Lyotard, Bernard Stiegler, and Bruno Latour.