Defense Date

3-12-2021

Graduation Date

Spring 5-6-2021

Availability

One-year Embargo

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Communication and Rhetorical Studies

Committee Chair

Anthony M. Wachs

Committee Member

Ronald C. Arnett

Committee Member

Erik Garrett

Keywords

formal cause, education, trivium, mimesis, psychology, hermeneutics, phenomenology, tetrad, mediation, cyberspace

Abstract

The work synthesizes Marshall McLuhan’s transformation model of communication with a trivium-based educational model and challenges the modern-day position of unreflective mediated communication. McLuhan’s transformation model demonstrates that communication is more than the transfer of content; rather, it is a transformation of perception. This work broadens the analysis and suggests that figure and ground relationships are integral to seeing the whole of media transformations. Through figure and ground relationships, communication unfolds as a study of perceptual change. The work explores perceptual change within the context of McLuhan’s conversion to the Catholic Church and underscores the importance of a unified mind and body as integral to understanding and comprehending the greater reality of the cosmos in our digital age of a philosophically embedded Cartesian dualism.

Language

English

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Included in

Rhetoric Commons

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