Friday, December 10, 2010

A Tale of Two Professors of Rhetoric

The National Communication Association (NCA) has named University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor Robert Asen as the 2010 recipient of the Winans-Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address reports theUniversity of Wisconsin- Madison News (HERE)

The National Communication Association (NCA) has named University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor Robert Asen as the 2010 recipient of the Winans-Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address.

Asen, who teaches rhetoric, received the award based on the research he compiled for his book "Invoking the Invisible Hand: Social Security and the Privatization Debates," a study of how debates have changed surrounding the topic of Social Security.
The book explores the idea that public policy and discourse cannot exist without one another.

"The primary way of policy is communication. Members of Congress use communication as a fundamental base to look at policy itself, especially at the federal level when men and women are not doing administrative work that implements this policy," says Asen.


Asen was selected by his peers within the NCA to receive the award, highlighting his commitment to exploring the ways that language is used to recognize and find solutions to public-policy problems and give policy an appeal to the general public.

Comment
I am sure that Professor Asen deserves his award and I congratulate him for receiving it.

I also note that Asen is a professor, “who teaches rhetoric”. as did Professor Adam Smith, so they share subject expertise in common.

They also share the fact that they are celebrated today for "Invoking the Invisible Hand”; Smith for his use of the metaphor in a discussion on the consequences of an unintentional choice to avoid risks, and Asen for applying it in a commentary on “how debates have changed surrounding the topic of Social Security”.

However, it is not reported whether Professor Asen, as a subject specialist in rhetoric, had noted the rhetorical significance of the use of metaphors, in particular that of the “invisible hand” as a metaphor.

What exactly is the role of an invisible hand metaphor in changing the debates about ‘social security’? Smith taught that metaphors are applied to their “objects” and express them in a “more striking and interesting manner” (A. Smith, Lectures On Rhetoric and Belles Lettres” [1762-63] 1983, p 29, Liberty Fund).

What is the “object” of Professors Asen’s use of this metaphor? Or has he bought into the modern attribution of the IH metaphor as the object of itself? Surely not.


Asen, who teaches rhetoric, received the award based on the research he compiled for his book "Invoking the Invisible Hand: Social Security and the Privatization Debates," a study of how debates have changed surrounding the topic of Social Security.

The book explores the idea that public policy and discourse cannot exist without one another.

"The primary way of policy is communication. Members of Congress use communication as a fundamental base to look at policy itself, especially at the federal level when men and women are not doing administrative work that implements this policy," says Asen.

Asen was selected by his peers within the NCA to receive the award, highlighting his commitment to exploring the ways that language is used to recognize and find solutions to public-policy problems and give policy an appeal to the general public.

Comment
I am sure that Professor Asen deserves his award and I congratulate him for receiving it. Recognition by one's peers is a truly prized recognition.

I also note that Asen is a professor, “who teaches rhetoric”. as did Professor Adam Smith, so they share subject expertise in common. Smith taught rhetoric from 1748-64, though he is better known for his moral philosophy and political economy.

They also share the fact that they are celebrated today for "Invoking the Invisible Hand”; Smith for his use of the metaphor in a discussion on the consequences of an unintentional choice to avoid risks (Wealth Of Nations), and Asen for applying it in a commentary on “how debates have changed surrounding the topic of Social Security”.

However, it is not reported whether Professor Asen, as a subject specialist in rhetoric, had noted the rhetorical significance of the use of metaphors, in particular that of the “invisible hand” as a metaphor.

What exactly is the role of an invisible hand metaphor in changing the debates about ‘social security’?

Smith taught that metaphors are applied to their “objects” and express them in a “more striking and interesting manner” (A. Smith, Lectures On Rhetoric and Belles Lettres” [1762-63] 1983, p 29, Liberty Fund).

What is the “object” of Professors Asen’s use of this metaphor? Or has he bought into the modern attribution of the IH metaphor as the object of itself? Surely not. That would be disappointing in a professor of Rhetoric.

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