Alex Morales
Mellon Assistant Professor
Dr. Alexander W. Morales is a Mellon Assistant Professor in the Program for Communication of Science and Technology at Vanderbilt University. Before moving to Nashville, he received a PhD (University of Georgia), MA (University of South Florida), and BS (Appalachian State University) in communication and rhetorical studies. His research aims to connect several areas under the general heading of Enlightenment rhetoric, including 1) science communication, 2) global and comparative rhetoric, 3) the humanistic analysis of scientific inquiry, and 4) the philosophy of skepticism. This work aims to cultivate an understanding of rhetoric's role in the production and circulation of scientific ideas in public culture. More specifically, his research explores how European and Latin American thinkers utilized public skepticism about economic and political issues to mobilize transformations in scientific thinking. His dissertation project, for instance, examines how David Hume accommodated his mitigated skepticism and empirical philosophy to upend various forms of dogmatism that circulated during the Scottish Enlightenment. Ultimately, Morales contends that Hume's rhetorical efficacy lay in his ability to refashion the public's relationship with public institutions, a feature of his communication that was later retooled by Hispanist scholars and activists to challenge the authority of European monarchies in the nineteenth century. His research on David Hume, the Scottish Enlightenment, and the rhetoric of skepticism has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Journal for the History of Rhetoric, and Philosophy & Rhetoric.
Specializations
My research connects several areas under the general heading of Enlightenment rhetoric, including 1) science communication, 2) comparative and global rhetorics, 3) the humanistic analysis of scientific inquiry, and 4) the philosophy of skepticism. This work aims to cultivate an understanding of rhetoric's role in the production and circulation of scientific ideas in public culture. More specifically, my research explores how European and Latin American thinkers utilized public skepticism about political issues to mobilize transformations in scientific thinking.
Representative Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Morales, Alexander W. 2024. “Skepticism as Ethos: David Hume’s Response to the Epistemological Revolution.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 110 (2): 221-243.
Morales, Alexander W. 2024. “Skeptical Baconianism: David Hume, Scientific Christianity, and the Controversy on Miracles.” Journal for the History of Rhetoric 27 (3) (Accepted)
Morales, Alexander W. 2023. “Enlightenment Rhetoric Reconsidered: Discursive Transcendence in Hume’s ‘Of Eloquence.’” Philosophy & Rhetoric 56 (3-4): 242-66.
Bell, Travis R., Morales, Alexander W., and Robb, Jaime. 2017. “Communities of Practice, Media Dependency, and Surveillance: A Virtual Search for Supremacy in Fantasy Football.” Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture 17 (1).
Book Chapters
Morales, Alexander W. 2024. “James M. Buchanan and the Unromantic Rhetoric of Public Choice.” In Political Process: New Perspectives on the Virginia and Bloomington Schools.
Edited by Chris Coyne, Don Boudreaux, and Brian Kogelmann. Lexington: Rowman & Littlefield (Forthcoming).
Morales, Alexander W. 2020. “Informative Speaking.” In The Art and Craft of Public Speaking.
Edited by Bjørn Stillion Southard. Athens, GA: University of Georgia: 124-40.
Morales, Alexander W. 2020. “Presentation Aids.” In The Art and Craft of Public Speaking.
Edited by Bjørn Stillion Southard. Athens, GA: University of Georgia: 175-189.
Book Reviews
Morales, Alexander W. 2022. “Why Didn’t I Pick a Fight About X?: An Inquisitive Response to Harris.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 11 (1): 1-6.
Morales, Alexander W. 2021. “An X Too Far: A Review of Randy Allen Harris’s Landmark Essays on Rhetoric of Science: Case Studies and Issues and Methods.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 10 (5): 20-24.
Selected Works in Progress
Morales, Alexander W. “The Shame of Not Speaking Spanish: Julián Castro and the Skepticism of the Hispanic Politician.” Intended for Rhetoric Society Quarterly. (Manuscript in progress).
Morales, Alexander W., and Jason Myres. “America’s Answer to Communism: Luis Muñoz Marín and Puerto Rican Exemplarity.” Intended for Rhetoric & Public Affairs. (Manuscript in progress).