Media and the Power of Knowledge

In Media and the Power of Knowledge, Fuller argues that from literacy to digitality, access and control of the available media have arguably done the most to shape the course of knowledge. Fuller radically extends Marshall McLuhan’s slogan, ‘The medium is the message’, by reading the distinction between ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ media through the lens of sociologist Max Weber’s ‘prophetic’ and ‘priestly’ religious voices, the former demanding that receivers complete the message, the latter that they conform to it. Readers will find a comparative appraisal of Socrates and Jesus as long-standing media personalities, as well as the fate of individual integrity, expert authority and the public sphere in the radically democratized landscape of the post-truth condition, in which truth-telling has been turned into a performing art that may adopt many forms. Does the tweet signal the return of the aphorism as a conveyor of insight about the world? Historically and philosophically informed, while presenting provocative arguments that address today’s concerns, this book considers the likely future developments of the media and its far-reaching implications for the human condition.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: A Look at the Course Ahead 1. Variations on Some Themes by McLuhan: The Medium Has Always Been the Message 2. Walter Lippmann and the Public Relations of Progressivism in the American Century 3. Democratizing the Intellect in the Post-Truth Condition 4. Media and the Power of Religious Knowledge 5. From Twitter Back to Aphorism, and the Fate of Knowledge References Index

About the Author :
Steve Fuller is Professor of Sociology at Warwick University, UK. He has written extensively on politics and social theory and the sociology of science. His many books include Kuhn vs Popper, which was named book of the month (Feb 2005) by Popular Science; The Intellectual was named a book of the year by the New Statesman for 2005; and Dissent over Descent was named book of the week by Times Higher Education in July 2008. He has spoken in 30 countries, often keynoting professional academic conferences, and has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts since 1995. His writings have been translated into over twenty languages.

Review :
The Philosopher of Technology strikes again! In Media and the Power of Knowledge, Steve Fuller launches a full-on frontal attack on some of the most important challenges pertaining to our postdigital media-saturated world. Skillfully blending philosophy and action, Fuller offers a deep understanding of changing relationships between media and knowledge and suggests some potent ways of addressing those transformations for the benefit of humanity. Professor Fuller’s excellent book draws from an intricate constellation of ideas and presents a provocative and highly original array of perspectives on the early foundations, historical transformation and contemporary condition of media and the social organisation of knowledge and their incarnation within the emerging contours of digital societies and beyond. Drawing from a range of theoretical traditions, including the work of Max Weber, alongside key media theorists, Fuller develops a potent reconsideration of influencer cultures, social media architectures, mediation and knowledge in a post-truth age; in ways that have significant implications for our understanding of the human condition in a radically transformed democratic and socio-technical landscape. Taking up Media and the Power of Knowledge, readers new to Steve Fuller’s work will encounter a singular, multi-faceted exploration of our current media environment syncopated to the language, ideas and arguments of a remarkable array of thinkers. Readers familiar with Fuller’s work will discover his refinement of the Intellectual’s role given the instruments of communication theory, rhetoric, politics, intellectual history and religious knowledge sharpened for the post-truth era and expressed through aphorism. All readers will find their intuitions regarding how we should live now insightfully challenged by Fuller’s analysis. Media and the Power of Knowledge takes the reader on a remarkable tour of media and message past and present, making stopovers at unexpected and fascinating places, from medieval controversies about the nature of salvation to experimentation in the Scientific Revolution to 20th-century debates about the heart and soul of American Progressivism.