April 26th: Wrapping Up
What is rhetoric?

Last Class Discussion

Let's wrap up a discussion on Richards and her history of Rhetoric to Rhetoricality. Then, let's talk about presentations for your final exam.

Don't forget to turn in your presents for me tonight!

Richard's "From Rhetoric to Rhetoricality"

I just have a few questions about Richards's discussion of rhetoric. This book is a nice concise history of rhetoric and it fills in several gaps, but it leaves us with more questions. Of course, she probably learned from others who thought they had THE idea of rhetoric only to be refuted later...whoops!

Questions:

• Consider Corbett's point that "Everyone living in a community with other people is inevitably a rhetorician" (Richards, p. 115)
• What can be said about the idea that rhetoric was invented to protect property? (Richards, p. 127)
• What is the relationship and distinction between rhetoric and linguistics?
  • How might a rhetorical analysis of a text be enhanced (or confused) by a linguistic analysis?
  • Vice versa--How might a linguistic analysis of a text be enhanced (or confused) by a rhetorical analysis?
• "Postmodernism theory seems indeed to be a ceaseless process of internal rollover in which the position of the observer is turned inside out and the tabulation recontinued on some larger scale" (p. 64).
• Richards claims that "[r]ecognition of this double potential of rhetoric, as a tool of power and a critical method, must inform any attempt to renew it" (p. 129). Care to comment?
• What does rhetoric have to do with ideology?

Final Exam Time

That's it. Come in two weeks (5/10 @ 6:30 pm) ready to present on you rhetoric/al projects.

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