The Personal, Technical, and Public Spheres of Argument: A Speculative Inquiry into the Art of Public Deliberation

Abstract

Argument spheres are symbolic constructions that shape the expectations of interlocutors who engage in the activities of theoretical and practical reasoning. These communicative contexts offer a range of taken-for-granted-as-reasonable rules, norms, procedures and styles of engagement. These grounds may appear stable, even natural, yet their relationships and boundary conditions become contested through controversy. Such struggles invite critical communication inquiry. This essay examines the extended threat to the political public sphere by cultures of expertise that substitute media spectacle for genuine deliberation.