INTRODUCTION TO RHETORIC WRA 260 | September 5, 2018

Rhetoric is… An art that emerged in 6th-4th century BCE, particularly in Greece (at least in the formalized sense) Rhetoric concerned itself with persuasion, specifically in public and political settings such as assemblies and courts of law. “The orator need have no knowledge of the truth about things; it is enough for him to have discovered a knack of persuading the ignorant that he seems to know more than the experts” (Plato).

Reasons for Rhetoric’s Emergence as a Field of Study During 6th-4th century BCE, the citizens of Athens evolved a form of government called demokratia (demos=people kratos=political power) NOT a representative democracy, like the U.S., instead every Athenian citizen (read: citizen/male/ property owner) played a direct role in making important decisions for the community Role of discussing/debating/putting forth ideas generally left to the rhetors. “Rhetoric is the art of discovering in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Aristotle).

Teaching Rhetoric During the Classical Period in Greece, those who taught rhetoric came up with different techniques. Topics, models, memorization. These folks, generally referred to as the Sophists, were attuned to circumstance, and didn’t believe that truth for communities was a static thing. Invention/Intrinsic Proofs. Another technique, more commonly used today, is attributed to Aristotle. You’ll read more for Monday on this model. “Rhetoric is the art of discovering in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Aristotle)

Types of Rhetoric Taught Legal or Forensic: took place in the courtroom and concerns judgement about a past action. Political or Deliberative: took place in the legislative assembly, concerned with moving people to future action. Ceremonial or Epideictic: took place in the public forum, intended to strengthen shared beliefs about the present state of affairs. “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing” (Socrates).

Definitions of Rhetoric Aristotle: “the art of discovering the available means of persuasion in the given case.” Cicero: “speech designed to persuade” Quintillian: “the good man speaking well” John Poulakos: “Rhetoric is the art which seeks to capture in opportune moments that which is appropriate and attempts to suggest that which is possible.” Kenneth Burke: Rhetoric is “the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.”

Invention & Change Ancient teachers called the process of examining positions held by others “invention,” which Aristotle defined as finding and displaying the available arguments on any issue. Invention is central to the rhetorical process. … From a rhetorician’s point of view, shouts and screams forestall invention. Participation in rhetoric entails that every party to the discussion be aware that beliefs may change during the exchange and discussion of points of view. All parties to a rhetorical transaction must be willing to be persuaded by good arguments. Otherwise, decisions will be made for bad reasons, or for interested reasons, or no reasons at all. (Crowley & Hawhee, 5)

Invention & Change Write for a few minutes on the following prompt: Was there ever a time where you had a discussion or argument with someone when your mind was changed on an issue? If not, why not? If so, what caused your mind to be changed? Reflect back on this time and think about how/if/why it changed? After 3-5 minutes of writing, you will share with your group for 5 minutes and then share one example from your table with the whole class.

Unspeak? Old, but interesting, interview with Frank Luntz. (listen from beginning to 7:40). In groups, explore whitehouse.gov and find 3-5 examples of word or phrase choices you think are "unspeak." Be prepared to share with class.

For Monday Read Foss, Sonja J. "Chapter 3: Neo-Aristotelian Criticism - Genesis of Rhetorical Criticism." Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice.Waveland Press. 2004. (see D2L) Read Kinross, Robin. "The Rhetoric of Neutrality." In Victor Margolin (Ed.), Design Discourse: History/Theory/Criticism, University of Chicago Press, 1989, pp. 131-143. (see D2L) Pay attention to “what counts AS rhetoric and how do we analyze it?”