Ronald Reagan's “star wars” address

Mythic containment of technical reasoning

Bibliographic Data

ID9237398
AuthorsJanice Hocker Rushing (University of Arkansas, corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume72
Issue4
Pages415-433
Publication date1986-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueQuarterly Journal of Speech (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-5630 • E-ISSN: 1479-5779
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00335638609383785
OpenAlexW2068569782
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited17

Ronald Reagan's “Star Wars” address is viewed as part of the culturally evolving myth of the New Frontier. The speech creates the illusion of both preserving and transcending science by subordinating technical reasoning to the purpose of nuclear holocaust, and by using technical reasoning to the purpose of preventing nuclear holocaust, and by using technoscience to rescript history to remove temporal and spatial markers. Science is left free to advance progress. But Reagan determines the parameters for future technical debate; thus, scientists who would argue against SDI must contest their own status

American exceptionalism · Containment (computer programming) · CONTEST · Epistemology · Fallacy · Frontier · Illusion · Media studies · Mythology · Nuclear weapon · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Star (game theory) · Star trek · Technoscience · The Holocaust · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Classics · Cognitive Science and Education Research · Computer Science · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Rhetoric and Communication Studies