On Being Scaled: Rhetorical Practices of the Cosmos

Open Access
- Author:
- Dicaglio, Joshua Michael
- Graduate Program:
- English
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- September 28, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Richard Doyle, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Richard Doyle, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jeffrey Nealon, Committee Member
Mark Stewart Morrisson, Committee Member
John Joseph Jasso, Committee Member
Mark Shriver, Special Member - Keywords:
- rhetoric of science
scale
cultural studies
science and mysticism
environmental communication
literature and science - Abstract:
- This project explores the rhetorical, phenomenological, and cultural import of scale. Scale is treated as technology of attention, a means of attending to one’s own perceptual field, systematically applying a measure to consistently compare the relative appearance of things, which permits us to speak of atoms, cells, bodies, planets, galaxies, and the whole cosmos in relation to each other. I explore scale through the shared scalar practices of both science and mysticism, those perennial aspects of spirituality that aims for union with a higher being. Looking at mysticism in relation to science permits a fresh exploration of why science finds itself struggling with mystical concepts, such as wholeness, vastness, transcendence, hierarchy, or infinity. Likewise, looking at how science develops and systematizes scalar descriptions permits a reworking of these mystical concepts in a manner that retains a clearer reference to empirical practices, while not remaining strictly within a material conception of the cosmos. The question of scale permits the project to mix together readings of scientific and cultural icons, philosophical considerations, and rhetorical analysis, all centered on trying to understand how we think and talk about significant shifts in size. The project explores three phenomenological origins of scale—distance, measuring, and the determination of scope—each leading to a reworking of what scale is and how it functions, with widespread implications for how we speak of scalar structures and relations. Each of these phenomenological origins leads to additional reconsiderations of classic scalar concepts: wholeness and division; conversion and reflection; and the Otherworldly or transcendent.