McLuhan | Havelock | metaphysics

Abstract

The McLuhan Havelock correspondence turns on a question about the meaning(s) of events that transpired in Greece during the Archaic and High-Classical period – perhaps the only time and circumstance in which the metaphysical and independent human being had been able to manifest themself amidst the vast amorphous resonance of tribal culture. Here, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary issue of Explorations in Media Ecology, this article uses the correspondence between two leading figures in the Media Ecology (anti-)canon as a leaping off point to talk about metaphysics and media. The focus is McLuhan. This article offers a portrait that shows the significance, if not centrality, of (Christian) metaphysics to McLuhan’s project, and how his metaphysical commitments inform and shape his ethics, politics and pedagogy. This article also makes the claims that: (1) McLuhan, in his theory and practice, asserted the primacy of mediation with respect to thinking about being and knowing, and (2) McLuhan’s insertion of media into metaphysics stands as an invitation to revisit and revise the history of metaphysics, especially when, under digital conditions, the merging of all pasts and presents is well advanced.