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This book examines the contemporary built environment in the United States. Using observational data collected in cities around the U.S., expressions of totality,alterity, dissociation, identity, and other hallmarks of the modern outlook are examined. Using the work of Jean Gebser, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty,and others, Worth connects contemporary philosophical critique of modernity with its specific expressions which are, for the most part, right before our eyes.This book not only seeks to present an interpretation of contemporary lived space, but also demonstrate that philosophy and communication theory are capable of more than abstraction; they are also capable of teaching us about ourselves.

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David Worth is Director of Forensics and Lecturer in Humanities at Rice University. His Ph.D. in Communication is from the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include the relationship between space and communication, philosophy of communication, and forensics pedagogy.

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