What is Rhetoric? (and why should we care?)

What is Rhetoric?(and why should we care?) Thursday, September 1, 2011 and Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Agenda • Readings

Agenda • Readings • Selecting Project One Groups

Agenda • Readings • Selecting Project One Groups • Exercises

Agenda • Our Readings So Far: • What is Rhetoric? • “Rhetoric” • Excepts from Aristotle’s Rhetoric • “A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” website • “General Introduction” • Bitzer’s “Rhetorical Situation”

What is rhetoric? • We hear this word all the time—even today. • But what does it really mean?

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • “Rhetoric is buffeted by storms of signification coming from two directions. From one direction comes the general public’s perception, reinforced by the popular media, of rhetoric as bombast, figurative language designed to cover up either deception or shallow substance.” • Keywords in Composition (213)

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • “A rhetoric is a social invention. It arises out of a time and place, a peculiar social context, establishing for a period the conditions that make a peculiar kind of communication possible.” • James Berlin, • Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century America 1

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • “Rhetoric is the study of misunderstandings and their remedies.” • I.A. Richards • The Philosophy of Rhetoric

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • Rhetoric is a primarily verbal, situationally contingent, epistemic art that is both philosophical and practical and gives rise to potentially active texts. • William Covino and David Jolliffe, • “What is Rhetoric?” (5)

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • Every rhetoric. . . Has at its base a conception of reality, of human nature, and of language. In other terms, it is grounded in a noetic field: a closed system defining what can, and cannot, be known; the nature of the knower; the nature of the relationship between the knower, the known, and the audience; and the nature of language. • James Berlin (Writing 2)

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • “Rhetoric, was, first and foremost, the art of persuasive speaking.” • Bizzell and Herzberg (1-2)

“A Few Definitions of Rhetoric” • “Rhetoric selects, from the vast realm of human discourse, occasions for speaking and writing that can be regarded as persuasive in intent.” • Bizzell and Herzberg (2)

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric • Medieval Rhetoric

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric • Medieval Rhetoric • The Renaissance

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric • Medieval Rhetoric • The Renaissance • The Enlightenment

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric • Medieval Rhetoric • The Renaissance • The Enlightenment • Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” • Classical Rhetoric • Medieval Rhetoric • The Renaissance • The Enlightenment • Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric • Modern and Post Modern Rhetoric

“A Brief History of Rhetoric” We’re going to spend some time working in groups talking about most of these periods. Each group will be given a portion of the Introduction to review with their group and then you will briefly present to the class, highlighting and describing key ideas. Group 1: Classical Rhetoric: up to and including “Arrangement” Group II: Classical Rhetoric: from Style to end of section Group III: The Renaissance Group IV: The 19th Century Group V: Modern and Post-Modern

What is rhetoric? • The value in understanding rhetoric in this class is an awareness of the theory behind the production of effective, rhetorically-aware texts. We do this in order for us to become even more self-aware and reflexive producers ourselves. • As it says in our syllabus, the goals of this course are: “(1) to increase your composing-designing proficiency within and across different media, (2) to increase your editorial/editing proficiency, and (3) to increase your awareness and control of the rhetorical principles that infuse each.” • To begin this course, we need to become familiar with those rhetorical principles and key terms, and we need to see how they work in practice.

What is rhetoric? • In this class, we will be producing texts in different modes—in print and online—and learning how to effectively design them. • However, design is virtually useless if it doesn’t take into account the needs of the situation and doesn’t articulate a fitting response to it. • Take a look at this: • http://vimeo.com/4246943

What is Rhetoric? • Take a few minutes to write about your readings, using your reader’s notebook as a guide. I’d like you to write: • One question about the texts that you can share with the class. • Something about the texts that was unclear, confusing or dense that you’d like to crowdsource to clarify. Then we’ll all share and discuss what you’ve written.

Agenda • Readings • Selecting Project One Groups • Exercises

Agenda • Exercises:

Agenda • Exercises: • Is This Rhetoric?

Agenda • Exercises: • Is This Rhetoric? • Keyword Imaging

Is This Rhetoric?

Is This Rhetoric? Take a listen to Aragorn’s speech from The Return of the King. • Is this rhetoric? • If it is rhetoric, how can we apply some of the terms we’ve just discovered to what Aragorn is doing? Let’s try.

Is This Rhetoric? How about the facebook home page? Or this famous poster? What key terms can you apply to these examples?

Keyword Imaging So we’ve read four texts with lots of keywords that you’ll all be writing about with your Keyword Cheat Sheets. I’d like to begin your work on Weekly Project One by asking you to think about a term in a unique way—I want you to draw an image or a series of images that explain the term I’ve just given your group. The written word is not allowed. You’ll all be given paper and crayons to complete this task. I’ll give you all ten minutes or so and then I’d like you to briefly present your work to the class.

What is Rhetoric?(and why should we care?) Thursday, September 1, 2011 and Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What is Rhetoric? (and why should we care?)