Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall Mcluhan and Communication Ethics: the at Ming of Americanitis Julie A
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 1-1-2016 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall McLuhan and Communication Ethics: The aT ming of Americanitis Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Hunsberger, J. (2016). Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall McLuhan and Communication Ethics: The aT ming of Americanitis (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/36 This One-year Embargo is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, MARSHALL MCLUHAN AND COMMUNICATION ETHICS: THE TAMING OF AMERICANITIS A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger December 2016 Copyright by Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger 2016 MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, MARSHALL MCLUHAN AND COMMUNICATION ETHICS: THE TAMING OF AMERICANITIS By Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger Approved October 7, 2016 ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Dr. Pat Arneson Professor of Communication and Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies Rhetorical Studies (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ Dr. Janie Harden Fritz Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. James Swindal Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Dean, McAnulty College of Liberal Arts Chair, Communication and Rhetorical Professor of Philosophy Studies Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies iii ABSTRACT MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, MARSHALL MCLUHAN AND COMMUNICATION ETHICS: THE TAMING OF AMERICANITIS By Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger December 2016 Dissertation supervised by: Dr. Ronald C. Arnett In 1880 neurologist George Miller Beard identified the diagnosis of neurasthenia. Popularly referred to as Americanitis, Beard treated an increasing number of people for symptoms of anxiety, malaise and gastric discomfort. Per Beard, the illness resulted from the rapidly changing mechanical landscape of modernity. Similarly, contemporary Media Ecology literature suggests that Americanitis continues amidst our current digital moment. Manifest as narcissistically anxious nervous exhaustion, digital Americanitis results due to technological encouragement of existential and communicative closure, thereby negatively implicating the human condition, human communication and communication ethics practices. As such, this project considers Marshall McLuhan’s Media Ecology to examine the communicative phenomena of Americanitis. Based on affable grounding assumptions as well as calls in recent literature, McLuhan’s work is read through the presently underrepresented Media Ecology iv scholarly approach of existential phenomenology. In particular, this Merleau-Pontean existential phenomenological reading enhances understanding of the implicit theory of human communication and communication ethics informing McLuhan’s Media Ecology criticism. Once elucidated, McLuhan’s theoretical assumptions, aims and ends comport with theoretical dimensions of Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology to reveal how and why technology encourages our digital Americanitis. When placed into conversation, the two thinkers also offer possible responses to our ills – approaches to “taming” Americanitis. v DEDICATION To: My parents. Thank you. I miss you. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work, as with many human creations, is not the product of my efforts alone. Though I accept sole responsibility for my presentation of ideas herein, I am deeply indebted to a great number of people and institutions whose efforts directed, assisted, supported and encouraged my work. First and foremost, I am grateful to Duquesne University and the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts for awarding me the McAnulty Dissertation Fellowship. This honor permitted me the luxury of focus with my writing, which, I hope, has enhanced the quality of this work. Likewise, I am thankful to Duquesne University and the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies for allowing me the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies. I am also deeply grateful to my director, Dr. Ronald C. Arnett, whose tireless work, encouragement and advice has not only helped to shape this project, but also a better version of me. With equal weight, I acknowledge my gratitude to committee members, Dr. Pat Arneson and Dr. Janie Harden Fritz. I appreciate their insightful comments on this project as well as their work and mentorship over the years. I also wish to thank the many faculty members at Duquesne including, Dr. Arnett, Dr. Arneson and Dr. Fritz as well as Dr. Calvin Troup, Dr. Richard Thames, Dr. Wilhelm S. Wurzer, and Dr. Kathleen Glenister Roberts – all of whom helped to shape my scholarship as well as my personhood through course work and conversation. I am grateful to Mrs. Rita McCaffrey for her assistance as well. Additionally, I wish to acknowledge my undergraduate and masters level faculty of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Without the instruction and encouragement of Dr. Jean Jones, Dr. Andrew Smith, Dr. Terry Warburton and Dr. Kathleen Golden, I would not be where I am today. I am also grateful to many colleagues, including but not limited to, Beth W., Brian, vii Anthony, Joel, Melinda, Amanda, Steven and Susan, whose works and /or conversations have contributed to shaping this project – no matter how directly or indirectly may be the case. Last, I wish to acknowledge my debt and gratitude to my family. My parents encouraged within me a natural curiosity and a passion for learning. My mother, who knows only of my graduate studies from the vantage of the beyond, fostered my love of writing from an early age. My father, whose encouragement motivated me to begin doctoral work and whose conversation and advice sustained me through course work, is also now gone and unable to see the realization of such efforts. My hope is that what I have done honors their memories as well as all they have taught me. I am also grateful to my brother whose strength is an inspiration, and his wife whose courage, caring nature and intelligence always teach me something new, and their daughter, my niece, whose presence and adorableness offers a source of hope for all of us. Above all, I thank my husband, Scott Hunsberger, whose unending awesomeness is nearly ineffable. To all whom I express gratitude, I consider you my heroes. I only hope that what I have done and what I might do in the future reflects the volume of gratitude I feel toward you. In closing, all the more I may say is: thank you for everything. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................ vii Part-I: Chapter 1 ..............................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................32 Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................63 Part-II: Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................95 Chapter 5 ..........................................................................................................................125 Part-III: Chapter 6 ..........................................................................................................................157 Chapter 7 ..........................................................................................................................188 End Notes .........................................................................................................................217 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................239 ix Hunsberger 1 Chapter 1 Introduction In 1880 neurologist, George Miller Beard identified the diagnosis of ‘neurasthenia’ (Bellah et al. 117). Popularly referred to as Americanitis, this anxious, nervous exhaustion resulted from the increasing pace of change and mechanization of life in industrial era North America. Work within the tradition of Media Ecology reveals that Americanitis affects us in the electronic and digital ages as well (Boorstin; McLuhan UM; Turkle). Americanitis, as it relates to the technologized mechanization, electrification and digitization of our milieu, raises questions about connections between technology, human communication, and communication ethics. This chapter introduces the phenomenon of Americanitis as a communicative response to particular historical moments and asks how Media Ecology, existential phenomenology and communication ethics may help us to understand