CHOICE, RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK: RHETORIC IN A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY REORGANIZATION

Abstract

Fernandez knew, as did Kenneth Burke to whom Fernandez owed so much, that the fundamental human problem of maintaining what he elsewhere called the “inchoate sense of wholeness” was critically linked to the never-ending dilemma of “the degree to which men can feel the aptness of each other’s metaphors.” And since the publication of “Persuasions and Performances” nearly 30 years ago, a great deal of anthropological, sociological and historical work on “power and resistance,” “hegemony,” and “cultural reproduction and change” can be usefully framed as particular responses to a number of fundamental questions implicit in Fernandez’ quote – When, and under what types of conditions, does any particular “metaphor” or “trope” serve to promote cooperation and social integration? When, and under what types of conditions, does it serve to promote conflict and social disintegration? When and how is the “aptness” of any given “metaphor” or “trope” lost? We believe these to be among the most central, enduring questions in the Human Sciences.

Citation

Bader, G.E., Graves, W. and Nyce, J.M. (2003), "CHOICE, RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK: RHETORIC IN A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY REORGANIZATION", Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-0671(02)20001-2