Public sphere or public sphericules

Abstract

Metaphors are powerful, as discourse analysts know. Let us attend to the metaphor of “the public sphere” itself. It is, first of all, singular: it is the sphere, not a sphere. The unity image is also pleasing. The rounded sphere displays a perfect symmetry. The sphere looks the same from each point on its surface. It permits no privileged vantage point. No direction is superior to any other direction. On the surface of the sphere, each point is equal-equidistant from the center or, if one likes, equally marginal. Roundness, fullness, ripeness: the image of the public sphere conveys the sense of a planet, a fruit, something complete. The sphere in its perfection is, of course, an abstraction that nature only approximates; even the earth is flattened at the poles. Yet the sphere remains a Platonic form, easily identifiable and august. All spheres may be mapped onto all other spheres.