Synchronic responsibility: A commentary on Walter J. Ong’s work on time consciousness

Abstract

This article is a commentary on Walter Ong’s scholarship on time consciousness, investigating the human consciousness of time as it relates to knowledge, orality and literacy. Time consciousness in the age of electronically mediated communication is both embodied and synchronic, yet vestiges of older ontologies persist rhetorically. This article outlines the clash between these ontologies and the problems that have arisen in the current age. The goal is to open the text to scholars and readers for heuristic value to prompt further investigation.