---
_id: '65730'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Abstract\r\n Is explainable
AI feasible and desirable, and are explanations of AI decisions always good? Many
answer this question in the affirmative, but there is a growing discourse that
is suspicious of the promises of explainable AI used to explain decisions towards
users, considering it unfeasible, undesirable, and even potentially misleading.
Could explainable AI be just a rhetorical foil? This paper proposes that, yes,
explainable AI is a rhetorical technology but no, this does not necessarily make
it undesirable. It starts by revisiting this debate according to the initial charge
against rhetorics by Plato and Aristotle’s response, considering rhetoric pharmacologically,
as not only a poison but also a cure for political life. It argues that, just
as rhetoric was necessary to take care of the temporalities of public life, in
court, the public event, and the assembly, so may explainable AI contribute to
a rhetorical context. Yet, whether it does so is conditioned on the extent to
which it cultivates the civic virtues relative to a respective context. The paper
considers the examples of predictive policing, credit scoring, and prediction
markets to argue about ideal states – civic virtues that may be cultivated in
each appropriate context – and deviations that point at the risks of explainable
AI to lead to domination, conformism, and political recalcitrance."
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Wessel
full_name: Reijers, Wessel
last_name: Reijers
citation:
ama: 'Reijers W. Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting Civic Virtue
in the Age of AI. Topoi. Published online 2026. doi:10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0'
apa: 'Reijers, W. (2026). Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting Civic
Virtue in the Age of AI. Topoi. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0'
bibtex: '@article{Reijers_2026, title={Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology:
Promoting Civic Virtue in the Age of AI}, DOI={10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0},
journal={Topoi}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Reijers,
Wessel}, year={2026} }'
chicago: 'Reijers, Wessel. “Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting
Civic Virtue in the Age of AI.” Topoi, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0.'
ieee: 'W. Reijers, “Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting Civic Virtue
in the Age of AI,” Topoi, 2026, doi: 10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0.'
mla: 'Reijers, Wessel. “Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting Civic
Virtue in the Age of AI.” Topoi, Springer Science and Business Media LLC,
2026, doi:10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0.'
short: W. Reijers, Topoi (2026).
date_created: 2026-05-29T12:04:50Z
date_updated: 2026-05-29T12:07:55Z
ddc:
- '140'
doi: 10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0
file:
- access_level: closed
content_type: application/pdf
creator: wreijers
date_created: 2026-05-29T12:06:10Z
date_updated: 2026-05-29T12:06:10Z
file_id: '65731'
file_name: 2026_Reijers_XAI as a Rhetorical Technology.pdf
file_size: 844081
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2026-05-29T12:06:10Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11245-026-10451-0
oa: '1'
project:
- _id: '2718'
name: TRR 318-2 - Constructing Explainability
publication: Topoi
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 0167-7411
- 1572-8749
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
status: public
title: 'Explainable AI as a Rhetorical Technology: Promoting Civic Virtue in the Age
of AI'
type: journal_article
user_id: '102524'
year: '2026'
...
---
_id: '65789'
author:
- first_name: Katharina J.
full_name: Rohlfing, Katharina J.
id: '50352'
last_name: Rohlfing
orcid: 0000-0002-5676-8233
- first_name: Isabel
full_name: Steinhardt, Isabel
id: '90339'
last_name: Steinhardt
orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2590-6189
- first_name: Ingrid
full_name: Scharlau, Ingrid
id: '451'
last_name: Scharlau
orcid: 0000-0003-2364-9489
- first_name: Niclas
full_name: Schaper, Niclas
last_name: Schaper
- first_name: Susan
full_name: Holtfreter, Susan
last_name: Holtfreter
- first_name: Lea
full_name: Biere, Lea
id: '46664'
last_name: Biere
- first_name: Angela
full_name: Grimminger, Angela
id: '57578'
last_name: Grimminger
- first_name: Rebecca
full_name: Schmidt, Rebecca
id: '94416'
last_name: Schmidt
orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2516-359X
- first_name: Dagmar Franziska
full_name: Festner, Dagmar Franziska
id: '36580'
last_name: Festner
- first_name: Rebekka
full_name: Schmidt, Rebekka
id: '58565'
last_name: Schmidt
- first_name: Heike M.
full_name: Buhl, Heike M.
id: '27152'
last_name: Buhl
- first_name: Ilka
full_name: Mindt, Ilka
id: '32079'
last_name: Mindt
- first_name: Andrea Ramona
full_name: Karsten, Andrea Ramona
id: '53917'
last_name: Karsten
orcid: 0000-0003-0194-2000
- first_name: Iris
full_name: Neiske, Iris
id: '53827'
last_name: Neiske
- first_name: Sebastian
full_name: Luft, Sebastian
id: '55271'
last_name: Luft
citation:
ama: 'Rohlfing KJ, Steinhardt I, Scharlau I, et al. (Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen
in der Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier.; 2026. doi:10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576'
apa: 'Rohlfing, K. J., Steinhardt, I., Scharlau, I., Schaper, N., Holtfreter, S.,
Biere, L., Grimminger, A., Schmidt, R., Festner, D. F., Schmidt, R., Buhl, H.
M., Mindt, I., Karsten, A. R., Neiske, I., & Luft, S. (2026). (Nicht)Nutzung
von KI-Werkzeugen in der Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier. https://doi.org/10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576'
bibtex: '@book{Rohlfing_Steinhardt_Scharlau_Schaper_Holtfreter_Biere_Grimminger_Schmidt_Festner_Schmidt_et
al._2026, place={Paderborn University, Paderborn}, title={(Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen
in der Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier}, DOI={10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576},
author={Rohlfing, Katharina J. and Steinhardt, Isabel and Scharlau, Ingrid and
Schaper, Niclas and Holtfreter, Susan and Biere, Lea and Grimminger, Angela and
Schmidt, Rebecca and Festner, Dagmar Franziska and Schmidt, Rebekka and et al.},
year={2026} }'
chicago: 'Rohlfing, Katharina J., Isabel Steinhardt, Ingrid Scharlau, Niclas Schaper,
Susan Holtfreter, Lea Biere, Angela Grimminger, et al. (Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen
in der Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier. Paderborn University, Paderborn, 2026.
https://doi.org/10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576.'
ieee: 'K. J. Rohlfing et al., (Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen in der
Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier. Paderborn University, Paderborn, 2026.'
mla: 'Rohlfing, Katharina J., et al. (Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen in der
Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier. 2026, doi:10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576.'
short: 'K.J. Rohlfing, I. Steinhardt, I. Scharlau, N. Schaper, S. Holtfreter, L.
Biere, A. Grimminger, R. Schmidt, D.F. Festner, R. Schmidt, H.M. Buhl, I. Mindt,
A.R. Karsten, I. Neiske, S. Luft, (Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen in der Lehre:
ein Reflexionspapier, Paderborn University, Paderborn, 2026.'
date_created: 2026-06-08T08:04:36Z
date_updated: 2026-06-18T18:57:56Z
department:
- _id: '427'
- _id: '424'
- _id: '749'
doi: 10.17619/UNIPB/1-2576
language:
- iso: ger
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://digital.ub.uni-paderborn.de/hs/content/zoom/8324632
oa: '1'
place: Paderborn University, Paderborn
project:
- _id: '2718'
name: TRR 318-2 - Constructing Explainability
status: public
title: '(Nicht)Nutzung von KI-Werkzeugen in der Lehre: ein Reflexionspapier'
type: working_paper
user_id: '57578'
year: '2026'
...