Overview of Rhetoric

My first problem lies of course in the very word "rhetoric." - Wayne Booth What is Rhetoric? For some people rhetoric is synonymous with empty talk, or even deception "that's mere rhetoric" ○ "that’s just empty rhetoric" ○ • Term of derision and widely studied discipline, employed as an insult and recommended to students as a practical subject of study. • What is Rhetoric? Where do you see it playing out in your life? Art of persuasion in an abstract form • Persuade of speaking Coach is trying to persuade characters/motivate them ○ Logic / pathos ○ He knows how to articulate his speaking ○ • Early Rhetoric The earliest and most influential discussions of rhetoric occurs in Plato's dialogue Gorgias Gorgias - a work written in the opening decades of the fourth century BCE when rhetoric was popular in Athens ○ Plato takes a dim view of rhetoric ○ • Socrates argues that the type of rhetoric being taught in Athens was simply a means by which "naturally clever" people and "flatter" their unsuspecting listeners into agreeing with them and doing their bidding. • Plato condemns rhetoric as "foul" and "ugly" • In 1690 John Locke had an advanced view of rhetoric that was likely influenced by Plato Locke acknowledges that on aspect of Rhetoric "order and clearness" is useful Artificial and figurative language is deceptive. § ○ • Friedrich Nietzsche - 19th century German philosopher who made a serious study of rhetoric "we call an author, a book, or a style. Rhetorical when we observe a conscious application of artistic means of speaking; it always implies a gentle reproof" ○ The artistic means which are already founded in language Language itself possesses an irreducible artistic quality? § Language itself is the result of purely rhetorical arts The power to discover and to make operative that which works and impresses with respect to each thing. This power is what the essence of language is. □ There is no unrhetorical "naturalness" of language to which one could appeal; language itself is the result of purely rhetorical arts. □ § Rhetoric is the essence of language § Nothing in the realm of language is purely "natural" and unmarked by rhetorical arts § ○ • Reevaluating Rhetoric: Writers have reevaluated rhetoric with different conclusions Wayne Booth 1921 - 2005 Leading figures in literary studies § Rhetoric held entire dominion over all verbal pursuits § Logic, dialectic, grammar, philosophy, history, poetry are all rhetoric § ○ Richard McKeon 1900-1985 Best understood as a universal and architectonic art Architectonic - rhetoric organizes and gives structure to the other arts and disciplines □ § Kind of master discipline that orders and lends structure to other disciplines The study of how we organize and employ language effectively □ The study of how we organize our thinking on a wide range of subjects □ § It is present everywhere we turn § ○ Richard Lanham - 1936 Called for a return of rhetorical studies as a way of preparing us to under the impact of computers and other digital devices on how we read and write. § We need to go back to the original Western thinking about reading and writing. The educational backbone of Western education for two thousand years § The approach to public communication can still teach us new things Like how to adapt to the emerging media of electronic communication □ § ○ Andrea Lunsford Returned to rhetoric as providing guidance in understanding how the digital revolution is shaping our reading and writing habits § Students expect their writing to change the world they live in § ○ • An Overview of Rhetoric

My first problem lies of course in the very word "rhetoric." - Wayne Booth What is Rhetoric? For some people rhetoric is synonymous with empty talk, or even deception "that's mere rhetoric" ○ "that’s just empty rhetoric" ○ • Term of derision and widely studied discipline, employed as an insult and recommended to students as a practical subject of study. • What is Rhetoric? Where do you see it playing out in your life? Art of persuasion in an abstract form • Persuade of speaking Coach is trying to persuade characters/motivate them ○ Logic / pathos ○ He knows how to articulate his speaking ○ • Early Rhetoric The earliest and most influential discussions of rhetoric occurs in Plato's dialogue Gorgias Gorgias - a work written in the opening decades of the fourth century BCE when rhetoric was popular in Athens ○ Plato takes a dim view of rhetoric ○ • Socrates argues that the type of rhetoric being taught in Athens was simply a means by which "naturally clever" people and "flatter" their unsuspecting listeners into agreeing with them and doing their bidding. • Plato condemns rhetoric as "foul" and "ugly" • In 1690 John Locke had an advanced view of rhetoric that was likely influenced by Plato Locke acknowledges that on aspect of Rhetoric "order and clearness" is useful Artificial and figurative language is deceptive. § ○ • Friedrich Nietzsche - 19th century German philosopher who made a serious study of rhetoric "we call an author, a book, or a style. Rhetorical when we observe a conscious application of artistic means of speaking; it always implies a gentle reproof" ○ The artistic means which are already founded in language Language itself possesses an irreducible artistic quality? § Language itself is the result of purely rhetorical arts The power to discover and to make operative that which works and impresses with respect to each thing. This power is what the essence of language is. □ There is no unrhetorical "naturalness" of language to which one could appeal; language itself is the result of purely rhetorical arts. □ § Rhetoric is the essence of language § Nothing in the realm of language is purely "natural" and unmarked by rhetorical arts § ○ • Reevaluating Rhetoric: Writers have reevaluated rhetoric with different conclusions Wayne Booth 1921 - 2005 Leading figures in literary studies § Rhetoric held entire dominion over all verbal pursuits § Logic, dialectic, grammar, philosophy, history, poetry are all rhetoric § ○ Richard McKeon 1900-1985 Best understood as a universal and architectonic art Architectonic - rhetoric organizes and gives structure to the other arts and disciplines □ § Kind of master discipline that orders and lends structure to other disciplines The study of how we organize and employ language effectively □ The study of how we organize our thinking on a wide range of subjects □ § It is present everywhere we turn § ○ Richard Lanham - 1936 Called for a return of rhetorical studies as a way of preparing us to under the impact of computers and other digital devices on how we read and write. § We need to go back to the original Western thinking about reading and writing. The educational backbone of Western education for two thousand years § The approach to public communication can still teach us new things Like how to adapt to the emerging media of electronic communication □ § ○ Andrea Lunsford Returned to rhetoric as providing guidance in understanding how the digital revolution is shaping our reading and writing habits § Students expect their writing to change the world they live in § ○ • An Overview of Rhetoric