CRS 183 EXAM 1

Symbolic Action

expressive human action, the rhetorical mobilization of symbols to act in the world

Symbol

an arbitrary representation of something else; a word, image, or an artifact that represents a thing, thought, or action

how we make sense of the world

a thing that stands in for something else

meanings of symbols

- can change across contexts and over time

- can be intentionally manipulated

- produce real effects

Civic engagement

people's participation in individual or collective action to develop solutions to social, economic, and political challenges in their communities, states, nations, and world

Rhetoric

use of symbols to share ideas, enabling people to work together to make decisions about matters of common concern, create identity, and contrast social reality

Rhetor

person, group, or institution that uses rhetoric (doing something with symbols)

Rhetorician

a person who studies rhetoric

rhetorical agency

ability to engage in symbolic action in a way that will be recognized or heeded be others (about how you are positioned in particular social structured/institutions)

roles of rhetoric in civil life

- civic rhetorical action is not limited to citizens

- rhetorical action sometimes does harm to communities

Stanger realtionality

- willingness to communicate with others

- people can learn to judge which ideas are persuasive, which expression are worthy of assent, and which ideas should define their character

identification

a communicative process through which people are unified on the basis of common interests or characteristics

creates a sense of collective identity

Constitutive Rhetoric

how identification can be used to create a people, nation, or collective

brings a collective into existence through language

generates a sense of character or culture in common

defines a nation (or other collective) against each other

Constructing Social Reality

Reality as understood through the. symbols humans to represent it

making meaning of the material world

Political context of ancient Greece

Greece used to be an aristocracy that changed to a democracy (ability to participate in gov.)

Sophists

teachers who were wise and skillful in the art of writing and delivering speeches

credited making it a skill that you could lead and practice

Techne

something that you can be taught/learn through practice

Kairos

the opportune moment, or saying the right thing at the right time

To prepon

decorum, or selecting a rhetorical response appropriate to the context

Dissoi Logoi

the existence of multiple, contradictory arguments

sophists

→ rhetoric constructs truth in specific contexts

→ rhetoric is a techne (something that you can be taught/learn through practice)

→ rhetoric helps identity best arguments

Plato

→ rhetoric obscures the truth

→ rhetoric is not a techne

→ rhetoric appeals to the ignorant

→ rhetoric attracts those who wish to gain power

truth/truth for plato and the sophists

Aristotle

systematizes the study of rhetoric

"the faculty of observing, in a given situation, the available means of persuasion"

Ethos (credibility), Logos (logic), Pathos (emotion)

Emphasis on audience

figure out what the audience is looking for in order to connect

relationship between rhetoric and democracy

- contemporary teaching and practices of rhetoric

- strong links between democracy and the study of rhetoric

Collective memory

memory that is not simply an individualized process, but a shared and contracted creation of a group

- shape identity

- important to a specific group of people

- stories that may pass down in family and shape that family

public memory

a particular type of collective memory that combines the memories of the dominant culture and fragments of marginalized groups' memories, and enables a public to make sense of the past, present, and future

culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

power

the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions

ideology

a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

hegemony

leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.