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From Postmodernism to Posthumanism: Theorizing Ethos in an Age of Pandemic
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In: Humanities ; Volume 9 ; Issue 2 (2020)
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Abstract:
This essay expands on the previous discussion, &ldquo ; Positioning Ethos&rdquo ; (Baumlin and Meyer 2018), which outlined a theory of ethos for the 21st century. There, my coauthor and I observed the dialectic between ethics and ethotics, grounding subjectivity within a sociology of rhetoric: Contemporary ethos, thus, explores the physical embodiment (with its &ldquo ; markers of identity&rdquo ; ), positionality, and &ldquo ; cultural dress&rdquo ; of speakers. There as here, we looked to Heidegger for an expanded definition, one reaching beyond a speaker&rsquo ; s self-image to bring all aspects of our lifeworld&mdash ; cultural, technological, biological, planetary&mdash ; into a dynamic unity. And, there as here, we observed the dialectic between speaker and audience: Within this transactional model, ethos marks the &ldquo ; space between&rdquo ; speaker and audience&mdash ; a socially- and linguistically-constructed meeting ground (or, perhaps better, playground) where meanings can be negotiated. Crucial to this transactional model is the skeptron, as described by Bourdieu: To possess the skeptron is to claim the cultural authority, expertise, trust, and means to speak and to be heard&mdash ; indeed, to be seen&mdash ; in one&rsquo ; s speaking. To our previous essay&rsquo ; s ethics and ethotics, this present essay adds the dialectic arising between bios and technê ; . We &ldquo ; dwell&rdquo ; in memory, in language, in history, in culture: All speakers in all cultural moments can claim as much. But, writing in an age of postmodernism, we acknowledge the heightened roles of technology, &ldquo ; expert systems,&rdquo ; and urbanization in our lifeworld today. What we had described as the cultural &ldquo ; habitus&rdquo ; of ethos is here supplemented by an ethos of scientific technoculture ; similarly, what we had described as the existentialist &ldquo ; embodied self&rdquo ; is here supplemented by the postmodern&mdash ; indeed, posthuman&mdash ; ethos of the cyborg, a biotechnic &ldquo ; assemblage&rdquo ; part cybernetic machine and part living organism, simultaneously personal and collective in identity. This posthuman con/fusion of bios and technê ; is not a transcendence of (human) nature ; rather, it acknowledges our immersion within an interspecies biology while expanding our habitus from the polis to the planet. It&rsquo ; s these aspects of our lifeworld&mdash ; insterspecies biology, bodily health as self-identity, postmodern technology, and urban lifestyle&mdash ; that COVID-19 pressures and threatens today. In the current struggle between science-based medicine and conservative politics, the skeptron assumes life-and-death importance: Who speaks on behalf of medical science, the coronavirus victim, and community health?
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Keyword:
actant; Bourdieu; Braidotti; COVID-19; cyborg; deep ecology; ethos; habitus; Haraway; Heidegger; Latour; pandemic; posthumanism; postmodernism; skeptron; technoculture
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URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/h9020046
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Positioning Ethos in/for the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction to Histories of Ethos
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In: Humanities ; Volume 7 ; Issue 3 (2018)
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