RHETORIC THAT SEES AND RHETORIC THAT ACTS: DISTINGUISHING VISUAL AND DIGITAL RHETORIC IN THE AGE OF INTERFACES

Abstract

This article explores the dialectical tension between visual and digital rhetorics as two ontologically heterogeneous modes of forming intersubjective experience in the hyper-mediated space of contemporaneity. The research transcends the instrumental interpretation of rhetoric, proposing its reconceptualization as a fundamental existential practice of constituting subjectivity. The proposed theoretical and methodological framework enables the transcendence of traditional binary oppositions (representation/interaction, image/algorithm, aesthetics/pragmatics), opening the perspective for a new ontology of communicative experience, where visual and digital modalities form complex heterarchical constellations of meaning. Based on the phenomenological reduction of the digital age's media landscape, a hyperparadox is articulated: what appears as opposition (contemplation vs. action) reveals itself as ontogenetically connected through the intentionality of bodily experience. The study promises to catalyze a paradigmatic shift in understanding screen culture—from an epistemology of representation to an ontology of participativity, where the interface functions not as a boundary but as a topos of new intersubjectivity. The proposed concept of "transversal rhetoric" opens the possibility of overcoming the implicit dualism of digital/material through recognizing their ontological inseparability in the subject's real experience. The pragmatic dimension of the research lies in forming a critical metalanguage for deconstructing contemporary algorithmic regimes of power and establishing a new ethics of communication capable of resisting the instrumentalization of subjectivity. The proposed methodology articulates tools for identifying "blind spots" in mediated perception and developing what can be defined as "transversal literacy"—the ability to recognize ontological transformations of the subject at the intersection of various modalities of persuasion. The text opens the perspective for further interdisciplinary research integrating neurophenomenology, media archaeology, and critical algorithmic studies to form a fundamentally new episteme, within which rhetoric emerges not merely as a technique of persuasion but as an ontological condition for the possibility of intersubjective co-being in the era of digital hyperreality.