Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 2005 Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure: Ad Colloquium Conferendum Annette M. Holba Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Holba, A. (2005). Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure: Ad Colloquium Conferendum (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/658 This Immediate Access 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]. DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY QUESTIONING THE RHETORICAL ECLIPSE OF PHILOSOPHICAL LEISURE: AD COLLOQUIUM CONFERENDUM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION & RHETORICAL STUDIES MCANULTY AND GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ANNETTE M. HOLBA PITTSBURGH, PA CONVOCATION MAY 2005 Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure February 7, 2005 Copyright © February 7, 2005 Annette M. Holba iii Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure Preface The advent of technology into society has saturated how human beings conduct daily communication (Postman 16; Winter 14). Technology has pushed leisure even further from our grasp, which reduces the human connection in our relationships as we have become driven by work and technology, instead of by human interest. The advent and subsequent saturation of technology ushered in a moral crisis in human communication. The moral crisis in human communication is an obscuration of the human element, meaning human beings often find it difficult to have a deep, thoughtful, and interested conversation with others. This obscuration has manifest into a culture of narcissism (Lasch, Narcissism 27; Kristeva 7) and a sense of existential homelessness (Arnett 229; Nietzsche 127). As a result of this moral crisis, human communication has degenerated into phatic conversation, small-talk, or meaningless chatter (Rorty, Mirror 372). This study calls for a rediscovery of philosophical leisure as one approach to human engagement. Philosophical leisure enables human beings to contribute valuable ingredients to idea-laden conversation. Contributing to conversation, or engaging the art of conversation, occurs when human interest envelops the conversational experience. Acknowledgments This research has been interesting, exciting, and time consuming. Understanding philosophical leisure is an important contribution to the study of human communication because philosophical leisure is communicative praxis. Philosophical leisure is a theoretical interest that has been considered by most significant thinkers responsible for iv Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure contributing to the development of Western thought. But philosophical leisure is not only grounded theoretically, it is something human beings ‘do.’ Therefore, communication scholarship can find bountiful paths to explore in theory and practice of philosophical leisure. This study can re-open the conversation about philosophical leisure from a communication perspective and invite cross disciplinary studies to enrich the conversation for a consummated examination. I must express my appreciation to my dissertation director, Pat Arneson, and my dissertation committee, Ronald C. Arnett and Richard Thames. Their direction and insight have been valuable and vital to the development of the ideas that follow. During the course of my doctorate study I studied Latin with Dr. Lawrence Gaichas, in the Classics Department, McAnulty College, Duquesne University. In the writing of this study I needed to revisit my Latin grammatical understandings with Dr. Gaichas. I am extremely grateful for his time and his consideration of my work and my questions. I thank my husband, Dennis, for putting up with my research and writing schedule that so often did not synchronize with his schedule. I thank my parents, Bill and June, for reading chapters for clarity and readability. I am extremely grateful to my daughters, Michele and Christina, who were the gatekeepers of every revised chapter document throughout the whole writing process. Finally, to Emily, who patiently and diligently watched as I typed away instead of rubbing her belly, thank you. One final note of gratitude. English words cannot fully express my appreciation to my dissertation director, Pat Arneson. Therefore, inter nos, labores nostrae, otium mihi dulce. Ab īmō pectore – gratiae. Amīcus certus in rē incertā cernitur. ☺ v Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure vi Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure Abstract Human communication in our postmodern era has degenerated into phatic communication. Phatic communication, appropriate in some circumstances, used unreflectively limits the ability for the development of healthy, idea-laden conversation. The phatic nature of communication represents a loss of human interest in human communication. Philosophical leisure can help to recapture the element of human interest in conversation, which recuperates an over-abundance of phaticity in human communication. Recuperation of communication occurs when ideas drive conversation. Philosophical leisure can help human beings to find substance for those ideas. This study considers how philosophical leisure can enrich human communication. vii Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure Contents Abstract.........................................................................................................................vii Chapter I Communicatio Humanus Quaestio ...................................................................1 Chapter 2 Sententiae de Aesthetics.................................................................................35 Chapter 3 Sententiae de Otio .........................................................................................53 Chapter 4 Otium: Fundus Colloquii...............................................................................90 Chapter 5 Aesthetic Experience of Philosophical Leisure and Implications for Communicative Praxis ...........................................................................................118 Bibliography................................................................................................................156 viii Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure Chapter I Communicatio Humanus Quaestio (The Problem in Human Communication) People commonly seek luxuries to make life efficient and easy – yet we often hear the comments “I’m busy,” “I’m tired,” or “I need more time!” People try to catch up with their work load and seemingly find themselves more behind than when they started. People say they need a vacation immediately after taking a vacation. People work to provide greater security for their future. The Western world is aggressive, competitive, and materialistic. All this work and material gathering is temporal and responsive to the societal environment in which one lives. The industrial revolution induced people to use mechanical and subsequently technological means for increasing efficiencies and ease of life. Human communication often reflects this contemporary shortcut to the good life. The progression toward this lifestyle foregrounds a material gathering of ‘things’ responsive to their immediate environment, which directs one’s attention in the world away from a meaning-laden life. Contemporary conversation is often self-oriented or about other people, which characterizes conversation as either monologic or gossip. Good conversation, that is, conversation with a human element, can nourish the mind because the focus of attention is on ideas rather than on the self or gossip about others. Ideas are open to spontaneity and therefore generate depth and novelty in conversation. Talking about the self or about others is often flat and narrowly focused, which disables depth and novelty. Nourishment from ideas invites contribution to conversation. The degeneration of conversation focused on the self or gossip about others interferes with the emergences and 1 Questioning the Rhetorical Eclipse of Philosophical Leisure 2 development of ideas. Therefore, this study looks for an alternative approach to refocusing attention toward a healthier aesthetic conversational ground. Leisure allows individuals to re-focus their attention in the world. Leisure, colloquially, has been misconstrued by many people for idleness, relaxation, entertainment, and other similar non-activities. One must also consider that historically leisure has meant different things to different microcultures. Leisure was a source of vice for the Puritans, a sign of privilege for egalitarians, and surplus to those Marxists elites (Pieper, Leisure xi). In 2004 human beings frequently mistake leisure for relaxation and entertainment. These historically shifting definitions of leisure have shifted our focus of attention in the world and in relation to other human beings. This alternate understanding is otium obscurum1 (an eclipse of leisure), which in turn can cause the quality of human communication to diminish or depreciate. This study examines the rhetorical eclipse of leisure to better understand the relationship between philosophical