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Technology Artifacts, Instrumentalism, and the Humanist Manifestos

Toward an Integrated Humanistic Profile for Technical Communication

University of Wyoming

Since the late 1970s, technical communication scholars and teachers have largely agreed that technical communication’s humanistic character can be found in the field’s rhetorical nature and the social nature of discourse. Building on Patrick Moore’s efforts to rehabilitate "instrumental discourse" in the face of such general consensus, this essay argues that such notions of technical communication’s humanistic character, although unquestionably groundbreaking and crucial to the field’s sense of self and mission, remain too deeply indebted to traditional academic humanities’ and English studies’ constructions of humanistic purview, which largely refuse to accommodate technology, especially physical technology artifacts. Considering alternatives that recast the technology-humanities relationship and situate technology within a humanistic framework can yield benefits for both technical communication and English studies broadly construed.

Key Words: humanism • technology • instrumentalism • academic humanities • English studies

Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Vol. 20, No. 1, 65-86 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1050651905281040


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