April 25th: Wrapping Up
What is rhetoric?

Early Bird

Jennifer is going to give her presentation tonight, so let's have her go and then we'll move on from there.

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!

I have some ideas below we could discuss, but how about we do the Teaching Evals and then just talk until we're bored?

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)
  • Richards shows how the "democracy" of Ancient Greece is complicated...glad American Democracy isn't complicated...
  • How about Democracy in the context of Nietzsche?
    "our lives are organized around a tissue of lies and that humanity is intrinsically self-deceiving, so much so that we can never gain a clear understanding of the 'truth' of things" (p. 133).
• Technical Writing as an attempt to limit interpretation (p. 134).
• 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?
• 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?
• From Burke: "Language is a resource that can be drawn upon by individuals to act on or persuade others....But it also shapes our values and beliefs in ways that we are not always aware of" (p. 162).
• 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 your rhetoric/al projects.

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