ENGL2410 - Rhetoric (Midterm Review)

Rhetoric

The usage of all symbolic systems and communication. Involves language and the visuals- both words/visual elements important. Has a way of getting things done in the world through simple systems.

Sophists

The first rhetoricians of the Ancient Greek period. Teachers and speakers who were a diverse group of thinkers towards the relationship between language and knowledge. Considered “anti-foundational".

Epistomology

The study of knowledge. A branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, scope and limits of human knowledge- often called the “theory of knowledge”.

The Rhetorical Situation

Written by Lloyd F. Bitzer. Defines rhetoric as a limited vision that deals with things that are alwaus situational that can be changed through intervention. Questions how we phrase, organize, dress and use language- optimizing on decorum and kairos.

Rhetorical Genre Theory

A theory in which the correctiveness of what rhetorical form to choose and get ideas across. Suggests to use the genre that is appropriate to the circumstance that rhetoric is being used in

What does a rhetorical situation mean to Bitzer?

That something needs to be changed and is trying to convince people who can work that change towards what needs to be done. The audience themselves can make this change.

What are the three components to the Rhetorical Situation, according to Bitzer?

Exigence, audience and constraints

Exigence (Bitzer)

Defined by Bitzer. An imperfection marked by urgency; a defect, obstacle. Needs to be something that the speaker deems as a situation that can be changed.

Audience (Bitzer)

Defined by Bitzer. The thing that can be constrained to decision and action. The people that can make that change.

Constraints (Bitzer)

Defined by Bitzer. The thing that influences the rhetoric and can be brought to bear upon the audience. Can be defined by artistic proofs and inartistic proofs.

How does Aristotle define rhetoric?

Rhetoric is the discovery of the avaliable means of persuasion.

What are the five canons, according to Aristotle?

Invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery

Logos

An artistic proof. Defines logical argumentation based on rhetorical proof. Considered the most important for Aristotle; not about how the world works.

Ethos

An artistic proof. Defines ethics and the build towards authority of the speaker. States it only comes out during speech, and not given to the speaker due to their reputation.

Pathos

An artistic proof. Defines the appeal of people’s emotions. Puts people into the correct state of mind to convince others.

Legal/Forensic

A type of rhetorical speech. Deals with the past and convinces others what happened during a specific point in time already experienced.

Deliberative/Political

A type of rhetorical speech. Deals with the future and convinces others about what the best decision in a given situation is to make.

Ceremonial/Epideictic

A type of rhetorical speech. Deals with the present and convinces the people through praising and/or blaming, considering the attitudes of audiences to move them.

What was Socrates concerned about?

He was concerned about teaching ethical leaders, seeing rhetoric on how we lived together. Language is how things get done in the world.

How is Aristotle defined as a rhetorician?

Considered the ‘great systematizer’; takes the things he sees and attempts to break them down.

Why is ‘kairos’ so important, especially for current day use?

It has to deal with the right timing of your argument at all times. You can have the perfect set of arguments, but if the timing is wrong- then it will not matter. Context matters.

What are the artistic proofs?

Pathos, logos and ethos

What are the INARTISTIC proofs, defined by Bitzer?

The things that are already there.

How can we think of social media as rhetorical?

Claiming authority online, voices of the majority, algorithms determining what we see, advertisements, what we search appeals either through praising or blaming

Rhetorical Velocity

Describes how rhetoricians theorize and anticipate the third party recompositing of texts. Allows to predict all possible outcomes through time and delivery (kairos).

What can rhetoric be used for, in regards to social media?

Clarity, brevity, promotion and getting others interested in something; engagement matters to the masses

Why does Plato think rhetoric is problematic?

He believes this because it can be used to deceive the masses; rhetoric is a tool- and if used wrongly- it can bring audiences to act with malicious context.

What is the historical context of the beginnings of rhetoric?

Through the city state of Athens; through democracy, the Greek legal system, political participation and the competition of public speaking. Produced forensic rhetoric.

Who was not apart of the Athenian democracy?

Women, enslaved people, people who didn’t own property, or others excluded from citizenship.

Sophistic Rhetoric

Utilized logos, referring to discourse, speech, language, thought and argument.

What did the Sophists often not agree on as groups of teachers/orators?

Rhetoric itself, knowledge, democracy, and how society should be organized in general.

Epistemic Rhetoric

A type of rhetoric defined as something that creates or participates in the creation of knowledge. Meant to the Sophists that the world we see is the starting point, and there is no separate “world of the forms” in the platonic sense.

What do the Sophists argue in general, according to their beliefs of anti-foundational thinking?

People can only have probable knowledge, and that we can never know anything with absolutely certainty.

Dialetic

The focus of a back-and-forth exchange, characteristic among Socratic dialogue. Often adopted and approved by rhetoricians like Plato.

Gorgias (Individual)

One of the many rhetoricians of the classical time. Incorporated the devices of the poets and suggested people can be deceived when convinced of probable truths.

How did Gorgias define rhetoric, truth and knowledge?

That truth is relative and contingent; probable knowledge is what we only have, and determining it requires conversation among people.

Why would Plato disagree with Gorgias’ views of rhetoric?

He does not trust the masses or crowds, seeing them as ignorant. They are subject to deception for him, and that majority can suppress minorities.

Why would Gorgias disagree with Plato’s view of rhetoric?

He believes truth and rhetoric can be utilized through conversation; holds a more hopeful view of people and believes if people come together and talk, they can reach something productive.

Why is Gorgias interested in the uncertainity of communication?

To test and implement ideas in order to understand that communication works differently in different situations. We don’t need to understand things exactly the same way as others.

Doxa

Translates to opinion, connecting to epistemological relativism. Meaning ‘to appear, to seem, to think, to accept’. Common belief or popular opinion.

What does Plato say about “doxa”?

There is an ideal form of the object- and that a physical object (a table, for example) is a copy of the ideal or transcendent form.

What does Gorgias say about “doxa”?

The transcendent world does not exist in Plato’s world; communicating the words of an object is difficult because meaning of language depends on customs or agreements surrounding language.

Encomium of Helen

Written by Gorgias. Understand as a rhetoric of praise and blame, arguing that the character should not be blamed and that speech is powered. Compares the power of speech to drugs.

In ‘Encomium of Helen’, what are the four ways that Helen could have been persuaded?

She is suaded by passion, divine power, speech, or forced by the individual.

How does Gorgias compare drugs to rhetoric?

Drugs, while possessive over the mind, can be used ffor good, can cure people- but used to poison people. Similarly, rhetoric can be used for these purposes- but the speaker and the tool matters.

Dissoi Logoi (Text)

Written by a student composing lecture notes about opposing or contrasting arguments. Notes cover on the thinking of how to counter arguments, modeled through rhetoric as a means of communication.

What is the writer in ‘dissoi logoi’ considered about for the majority of their notes?

The element of providing context and relying on it to illustrate points; utilizes elements like nomos in several city states to argue about how kairos is the most important aspect in rhetoric.

What does ‘dissoi logoi’ cover about kairos, and why is it important?

It states that it depends on the moment- what is seemingly and shameful, what is just and unjust, etc. It depends on the moment and the timing of the rhetorical situation, along with how you need to be well versed in everything you are speaking on.

Why would Plato disapprove of the ‘dissoi logoi’?

He would believe that the lecture notes followed more foundational knowledge- NOT contingent knowledge. Explores more probable knowledge than absolute truth.

Enthymeme

A rhetorical tool used to construct an argument alongside an audience by leaving out specific contextual information. Requires you to know your audience enough to allow them to fill in things in their minds.

Apasia

A rhetorician who as a consort and metic- but thought to have written a number of Perikles’ speeches. The person who came up with arguments over analogy and brought enthymemes up into existence.

What is the famous definition of rhetoric defined in Aristotle’s lecture notes?

It is that rhetoric is the faculty of observing at any given case the available means of persuasion. A much broader definition that can be applied to ceremonial and political rhetoric.

Rhetorical Triangle

A shape defined by Aristotle. Emphasizes with speaker, audience, and the subject. The shape is dynamic; if you change one thing, the relationships of everything else change. All have to co-exist.

Apasia (Menexenus)

Written by Plato. The text praises and blames about the traits of patriotism and leaves little elements out, allowing for the audience to make connections with themselves. Addresses that it is easier among others you are actively praising.

Isocrates

A rhetorician coming after the generation of the sophists. Influenced by Gorgias, believing that rhetoric is a tool for investigating situations and wanted to search for a transcendent idea of truth.

What does Isocrates think about the artistic proof, ‘logos’?

He believes that it is connected to solving political problems.

What is Isocrates beliefs in philosophy?

He believes it is connected to the pursuit of wisdom- that the goal is connected to virtue/excellence. Sees education and politics combined together.

What is Isocrates concern towards philosophical/rhetorical teachings?

He is concerned that education is directed for citizenship and how to be a good citizen; through the teachings of being virtuous and participating in civic life.

How does Isocrates see natural ability, practice and instruction?

Natural ability comes first; however, it requires practice and instruction- needs improvement. It is not about being ‘good’ at it immediately, it needs honing.

What do important ideas include, according to Isocrates?

They include logos (discourse) and philosophia (the pursuit of wisdom). Connects to virtue, ethical action and what is best for the community.

Antidosis

Written by Isocrates. Criticizes about how teachers promise too much, how they claim they can work miracles through education, and how education can actually, realistically accomplish.

What is the danger identified about rhetoric in Isocrates’ Antidosis?

It is making great educational promises; we never know the future with certainty/absolution, which is the danger. We turn to practical judgement for when we have no foreknowledge.

Phorensis

The ability to develop sound practical judgement. A part of being a rhetorician; it is about reasoning and critical thinking.

What does phronesis allow for us to do?

Allows us to be realistic about what education can do, recognize natural ability, see that people can improve, and set realistic expectations about education.

What does Isocrates state about karios in his text, ‘Antidosis’?

He states that kairos is CRUCIAL, and that you must match who are as a speaker, your audience and the situation in the current time.

How does Isocrates define teachers in his text?

The teacher is a ‘model’ for a student, who demonstrates ethical behaviour. They can model ways of engaging in rhetoric that focuses on the community.

How does the Antidosis written by Isocrates identify language?

The text identifies it by seeing how humans use language and how it separates from other species. Allows us to speak think, communicate, think and come together as a community.

What is Isocrates most deeply concerned about in terms of rhetoric’s use in Athens?

How he sees rhetoric in the corruption that can come from the use of speech- and how teachers can make excessive promises that pollute students away from civil teachings.

According to Isocrates, how does the pursuit of virtue and citizenship help teach people?

It allows for others on how to live together, how to enter the world, fulfill their duties and their citizenship in Athens.

What is the core parts of a civilized community, according to Isocrates?

The core is towards logos/discourse and philosophy- the pursuit of virtue. Allows to strength critical thinking.

What does the Antidosis allow us to recognize in the things “that are important”?

The text recognizes the importance of language itself, how we come together, and how it allows us to make community.

Plato

A rhetorician who condemns rhetoric; opposites the rhetoric that attempts to sway over the masses. Believes there’s a transcendent truth, and that souls glimpse over it before reaching the human world.

What was Plato most known for towards the idea of rhetoric’s use?

He was about abstract philosophy, and in understanding how to use it to teach about transcendent knowledge- not about instilling belief.

What is the one way that Plato advocates for rhetoric?

He will approve of it if rhetoric is used to communicate one-on-one between a separate, individual party.

What are the differences between the sophists and Plato?

The sophists believe in probable knowledge, while he believes in transcendent knowledge- pessimistic about human nature.

Is Plato a foundationalist or anti-foundationalist?

He is a foundationalist; he sits in terms of knowledge and how it is created; utilized in the Phaedrus.

Foundational Knowledge

The essential, base-line facts, skills and concepts that learners master first to progress further to complex learning. The basic building blocks for truth.

Anti-Foundational Knowledge

The basic counterpart of the other defined knowledge; believes there is no concrete structure or principle towards “absolute truth”.

Gorgias (Text)

Written by Plato. Investigates false rhetoric through the conversations of Socrates, Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles- defining the value rhetoric and states the important aspects of education by analyzing true rhetoric.

How did Plato see democracy in Athens, according to his text ‘Gorgias’?

Believed it was corrupt, especially in oratory rhetoric; because individual people can convince the masses of courses in action- like convincing others that Socrates was “acting out from the state”.

How does Plato use Socrates to make his points across towards “false rhetoric”?

He sets up dialectic in the Gorgias by combating against rhetoric and utilizing the Socratic method. Gets him define rhetoric narrowly and steers the conversation of what he wants the definition to be of rhetoric.

Gorgias (Plato Text)

A character in the text ‘Gorgias’. The epiphany of the rhetorician, portrayed as advanced and the travelling sophists. Embodied as what rhetoric can do, but portrayed as boastful and the ‘great rhetorician of the past’.

Polus (Plato Text)

A character in the text ‘Gorgias’. The impetuous youth who gets into a lot of trouble, taking offense to Socrates’ words. Argues that orators are admirable because of their political power.

According to Plato, why can education happen in the dialectic, but not in rhetoric?

Education cannot happen in rhetoric because indoctrination is at risk of occurring between the masses. The only way education can be done is through high class philosophers and must occur in one setting via cross-examination.

In Plato’s Gorgias, what two binaries does he utilize in the first section between Gorgias and Socrates?

One that either indulges citizen appetite- or indulges the masses- or that we correct them as we moved them towards transcendent knowledge.

What are the two forms of persuasion, according to Plato?

The first is belief without knowledge (how he sees rhetoric) and the second is sure knowledge, achieved through pursing the world of forms and philosophy.

How does Socrates in Plato’s Gorgias control Polus in his answers?

Gets him to agree on his terms almost immediately and inverts the structure; has Polus answering the questions, shifting power in giving answers to Socrates.

According to the Rhetorica ad Horennium, what are the three different registers you can speak in?

Grand, middle, and simple. Types to which discourse falls and confines in itself, based on diction- on the words you choose, tone, level of formality, etc.

Grand (Speech)

A speech identified in Rhetorica ad Horennium. Sentences that are elevated and are practically performative; academic. Grand style can seem “swollen”, or pretentious.

Middle (Speech)

A speech identified in Rhetorica ad Horennium. Lower yet not below, with most colloquial types; Middle style can seem “drifting” or “slacking"- not doing anything.

Simple (Speech)

A speech identified in Rhetorica ad Horennium. Standard speech can seem like you are not able to express yourself very well.

According to the Rhetorica ad Horennium, what are the three qualities of style?

Taste, artistic composition and distinction (ornateness). Must know natural talent, self confidence, practice, invention and theory.

Taste (Quality of Style)

A quality of style defined in Rhetorica ad Horennium. Broken down into a few parts: correct use of language and from clarity.

Artistic Composition (Quality of Style)

A quality of style defined in Rhetorica ad Horennium.  The arrangement of words- not the speech as a whole. How we constrain our sentences.

Distinction (Quality of Style)

A quality of style defined in Rhetorica ad Horennium. Based on ornateness and from the way we use rhetorical figures to cloak our language- how we can make language our own.

Callicles (Plato Text)

A character from Plato’s text ‘Gorgias’. Represents the common statesmen, believing nature is more important than law and that the strong should rule over the weak.

What does Socrates discuss to Gorgias about?

The morality or rhetoric (just or unjust), and the definition of rhetoric.

What does Callicles represent in Plato’s text, Gorgias? How does he shift the text towards rhetoric and philosophy?

He represents ‘rhetoric’ and selfishness itself, believing that indulging it when you’re younger is fine, as long as you grow out of it. Definition directs to the question on whether philosophy or rhetoric is better.

Why does Plato compare rhetoric to poetry, tragedy and music in his text ‘Gorgias’?

It is because it is all three of them that lead back to pleasure; it is about flattering, pleasing and giving what the audience wants in order to instill belief for your own selfish reasons.

Based on the ideas of souls with Plato’s text, the Gorgias, what does he associate rhetoric towards them and audiences?

He see rhetoric not practiced as an art, but a link towards souls being lead as a means of words that leads to the case of belief. He believes this is dangerous.