Rhetoric & Persuade Me not to Kill Myself

Final

sprezzatura

easy grace / casual self-confidence

Vita activa

life of political and civic involvement (putting community over oneself)

Humanists

liberal artists; poetry, ethics, art, rhetoric

Madeleine de Scudéry

novelist/essayist; said women should educate themselves; societal approach “rhetoric of conversation;” language bonds society through morality of the ordinary

Lorenzo Valla

wrote humanist “Bible";” saw oratory above philosophy

emblem

includes a motto (inscriptio), pictura (image), and subscriptio (epigram)

Sententiae

Isolated statements from ancient authorities.

Why were Renaissance humanists able to have better engagement with classical (Greek & Roman) rhetoric than the medieval scholars who came before them?

a renewed focus on the study of classical texts and a shift away from the purely scholastic, religious-focused education of the medieval period

How was rhetoric evolving in the Renaissance due to changes in society and culture?

rediscovery of “classics,” Italian commercial culture, women being more commonly educated,

What is an example of the visual rhetoric of the renaissance?

depictions of concepts as people in paintings; clothing, gesture, etc.

Vico: his critiques of Descartes & caution toward scientific revolution

argued against concept of “systematic doubt;” believed math was not unchanging (uses symbols = rhetoric); saw poetic speech as the foundation (over science)

Vico's concept of myth

foundational to human thought because, like logos, allowed us to make sense of the world

Margaret Cavendish

an exiled duchess; wild writings on natural philosophy (science)

In this period, rhetoric no longer has much to do with constructing arguments (logos). For the most part, that becomes the work of what field?

philosophy, math, and science

What are Vico’s main points about the importance of rhetoric to society?

sensus communis: common beliefs; prudence of practical judgement (probabilities); wisdom+eloquence; ingenium: intuitive ability to grasp similarities/differences

What was the focus of the elocution & belles lettres movements?

elocution: performance side (manners, poise, expression); belles lettres: analyzing and critiquing writing/arguments (intellectual movement, elevated reader)

What motivated George Campbell to develop an organized and rational account of rhetoric - The Philosophy of Rhetoric - that could make use of many new theories of how the human mind worked in order to teach eloquence?

He believed that he was building on the classical tradition in rhetoric by providing scientific support for traditional insights

Why do we think of science as non-rhetorical by default? When and how did people start to question this received narrative about science?

Fact versus verbal manipulation; except literally everything is biased including science (what we choose to study) as people realized during the enlightenment period

Why would a thinker like Midgley put forth the theory of evolution as an example of science being more than an objective method?

it’s like a new religion; it shapes thoughts, feelings, and answers the question of “what are we?”

Why was Darwin's idea of "Nature" and "natural selection" ultimately more rhetorical than scientific?

he uses emotional/ego appeals, bandwagon, uses analogy; argument is theoretical

How do personal beliefs and relationships affect science -- do you think that it is a good idea for scientists to acknowledge these things (in, e.g., economics, anthropology)?

We study things that appeal to us (such as how study of menstrual fluid is limited because it is considered gross); nothing is truly objective

How is science based in community?

We study things that have high need in our community, as well as have to “sell” our research

How and why is rhetoric important to science (science journalism, public science, etc.)?

Used to determine what gets attention, gets funded, etc. Presentation matters

Alienation

division between people (Burke); warfare, sometimes silence

Identification

persuade by matching the other, overcoming differences; consubstantiality: commonality of substance

Symbolic action

press toward unattainable perfection

Symbolic inducement

using symbols to convince people to change

Terministic screen

terminology reflects/deflects reality (reveals and conceals; the screen through which we perceive the world)

Burke’s pentad

grammar of motives (act = realism, scene = materialistic determinism, agent = idealism, agency (how agent performs act) = pragmatism, and purpose = mysticism)

Pentad ratios

comparing emphasis to determine response (usually compares “act” to another)

In general, why is the word "motive" important to Burke's rhetoric?

the ratio framework is build around analyzing the reasoning behind something taking place; the “why",” aka the motive

Why does Burke argue that the terministic screen is inescapable for all of us?

We are all biased, we cannot see everything the way it truly is. Language is not reality

Exigence

the problem; imperfection marked by urgency

audience (Bitzer)

capable of taking action in response

constraints (Bitzer)

any factors that set a practical limit; can both restrict and enable action; persons/events/objects/relationships

The fitting response

prescribed solution to the problem/exigence

Feminist Rhetorical Criticism

reevaluation of the texts of women who have been silenced; women seen as listeners, not speakers

rhetorical listening

not passive. an ethical act that encourages self-reflection and cross-cultural conduct; seeks understanding, not agreement

What is Bitzer's definition of the rhetorical situation?

Calling rhetoric “a mode of altering reality . . . by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action,”

Why aren't all exigencies or audiences part of a rhetorical situation?

Not all problems can be modified by discourse, and not everybody who sees the message can do something about it

Why does Bitzer's rhetorical situation supposedly predict a single result, like a math problem?

He implies there is one best response

How is Ratcliffe trying to address a problem with the study of rhetoric today?

people being selfish and treating rhetoric as war; addressed through listening

What does Villanueva think is missing from academic arguments?

memory, which preserves identity

How does Villanueva use the form of his argument to reinforce its content?

he argues through literary means, citing the words of many and using real-life examples to make a point that memory is powerful

What are some examples of rhetoric of "display" and why is the word "display" a good choice to represent them?

Visual formatting competes for our attention, display = the way things are arranged (colors, packaging, etc.)

What is an example of something that might be studied as "digital rhetoric"?

using abbreviations to come across a certain way

Why do Albakry and Bryan frame their study of letters of recommendation as rhetorical in nature; what does it have to do with the thinkers and ideas we've encountered this semester?

They are a method of persuading someone to do something (hire), as is done through professional language (eloquence), Aristotle’s triangle (ethos, pathos, logos), etc.