General Introduction to Rhetoric (Bizzell and Herzberg)

1. General Introduction
• Here is a non-exhaustive a list of definitions of rhetoric that Bizzell and Herzberg say would not really be helpful on their own.
1. Rhetoric - the practice of oratory
2. Rhetoric - the study of strategies of effective oratory
3. Rhetoric - the use of language, written or spoken, to inform or persuade
4. Rhetoric - the study of the persuasive effects of language
5. Rhetoric - the study of the relation between language and knowledge
6. Rhetoric - the classification and use of tropes and figures
7. Rhetoric - the use of empty promises and half-truths as a form of propaganda
• Instead, Bizzell and Herzberg argue we will only usefully define rhetoric by looking at how it has been viewed throughout history.
2. The Origins of Rhetoric
• Rhetoric has been in existence since 5th century BCE in Greek probate courts and under Greek democracy - here defined as the art of persuasive speaking.
• Recognizing the importance of public speaking, rhetoric became not only the practice of pursuasive speech but also the construction of persuasive speech.
• The study of rhetoric has largely been prescriptive, teaching how to give a persuasive speech for a particular arena, but that pursuit has nonetheless produced a body of theory which is both practical and abstract (that explores the philosophy of the art).
• Though rhetoric has expanded to cover all forms of discourse and communication, the classical system remains its basis, including questions about language and knowledge that will never be put to rest.
3. Classical Rhetoric
• Late 4th century BCE, Aristotle's system, continued by Cicero and Quintilian
• Types of Rhetorical Discourse
1. legal speech (forensic) - takes place in the courtroom and concerns judgment about a past action
2. political speech - takes place in a legislative assembly, concerned with moving people to future action
3. ceremonial speech (epideictic) - intended to stregthen shared beliefs about the present state of affairs
• Psychology and Audience Analysis
• Rhetoric always includes an audience and the speaker must consider what will motivate that audience.
• Aristotle believe people are always self-interested.
• These self-interest vary among different groups of people, and Aristotle stereotypes these groups -- "all you men have hot tempers and strong appetites, for example"
• The Preparation of Speech
• Three forms of persuasive appeal:
1. logos - appeal to reason
2. pathos - appeal to emotion
3. ethos - appeal to the speaker's authority
• Five stages of speech preparation:
1. Invention
• The first stage, and most important, as it is when you develop the logos.
• Aristotle believed logos was the most important because everyone is rational.
• Considering topoi (common topics) is one way to generate a rational appeal.
• You can use compare and contrast, cause and effect, argument a fortiori (an argument to support a second stronger argument) with topoi.
• Rational appeal is separate from scientific demonstration and dialectic -- rheortic seeks probable truth where scientific demonstration reveals ulalterable truths.
• Enthymeme deduces a conclusion from a general premise that is left unstated.
• Cicero and Quintilian stressed the rhetorician must be learened in philosophy, history, law, literature, etc.
• Sophists believed all knowledge was contigent. Sophists believe rhetoric is epistemic (creates knowledge) and all language is persuasive in intent.
• Sophists were attacked by Plato, but their view has renewed interest today.
2. Arrangement
• The second stage, where the arguments from the invention are put in the most effective order.
• Aristotle four parts to a speech:
1. The introduction (pathos, ethos)
2. The statement of the issue (logos)
3. The argument (logos)
4. The conclusion (pathos, ethos)
• Cicero's five parts to a speech:
1. The introduction (ethical and pathetic appeals)
2. The narration of the facts (logical but also pathetic appeals)
3. The statement of the position (logical arguments in favor)
4. The refutation (logical arguments against oppposing position)
5. The conclusion (pathetic and ethical appeals)
• Emotional appeals, including arrangement itself, is embarassing as opposed to logical invention, which is more laudable in the eyes of the classical rhetorician.
3. Style
• Dresses up previously formulated ideas in attractive garb.
• While regarded as decoration by Aristotle, he did begin cataloging verbal figures, which would become (too large) a focus of rhetoric at times.
• Some rhetorician's view creating verbal figures as invention itself.
• Metaphor was viewed as generative by Sophists.
4. Memory
• Classical technique for memory is to construct a memory palace.
5. Delivery
• Delivery same as acting, according to Aristotle. Quintilian viewed it more importantly.
• The Influence of Classical Rhetoric
• Rhetoric is often defined by this classical system -- which has merits.
• The focus on purpose, audience, composition, argumentation, organization, and style has appeared in all ages.
• Classical rhetoric covers all the fundamental concerns, but it is not exhaustive.
• Late Classical Rhetoric in Rome
• Romans (Cicero and Quintilian) followed the Greeks (Gorgias, Plato, Isocrates, Aristotle).
• Romans were prescriptive -- providing guidelines for employing the techniques.
• Cicero viewed the power of rhetoric to shape beliefs.
• Political rhetoric was suppressed in Roman empire, but Quintilian believed a "good man speaking well" could save the state.
4. Medieval Rhetoric
• Early Christianity
• Adverse to rhetoric: rhetoric relies on reason, Christianity comes from revelation
• Augustine (5th century) makes practical decision in favor of rhetoric -- views rhetoric as a powerful tool to defend and espouse principles and beliefs.
• The Later Middle Ages
• After Augustine, Boethius wrote summaries of Greek and Latin classical training. These works and similar would last for the next 800 years.
• Church manuels for preaching and letter writing started appearing after the 12th century.
5. The Renaissance
• Stylistic Rhetoric
• The 15th century brought a renewed interest in classical learning.
• The main emphasis was style. Every type of phrase and sentence was named. These names were also adopted in grammar -- colon, comma, apostrophe, parenthesis.
• Private Discourse in Rhetoric
• The art of letter writing enters the domain of rhetoric.
• Even conversations are included in the field, with Madeleine Scudery's guides, well known for her influence of Loius XIV.
• Public Discourse by Women
• Women entered the public forum to promote their religious views and defend their right to read, speak, and write.
• Quaker Margaret Fell wrote a defense of women's right to speak, attacking the Apostle Paul.
• Renaissance male theorists narrowed the study of rhetoric, but women had a far more expansive view of its power.
• Ramus
• French philosopher Peter Ramus (16th century) divided rhetoric into two: dialectic and rhetoric.
• Dialectic sought syllogism to examine statements about the world.
• Syllogism: reasoning is drawn from two premises, with a common middle term, for example: All dogs are animals, all animals have four legs, so therefore, all dogs have four legs.
• Dialectic discovers truth through syllogism, rhetoric would share that knowledge to the public.
• In Ramus's view, dialectic is superior to rhetoric. Rhetoric only consists of style, memory, and delivery.
• This style of rhetoric flourished in the 17th century, but Ciceronians argued for the importance of all five parts of classical rhetoric.
• Science, Epistemology, and Rhetoric
• Francis Bacon (16th/17th century) overturned Ramus. Syllogism cannot discover anything new.
• Bacon separated inquiry (science) and recovery (rhetoric invention).
• In 17th and early 18th century, science surplanted rhetoric from the source of knowledge.
• According to Bacon: objective truth is distorted through language.
• Implicit to Bacon's belief, however: thought and language are never neutral conveyors of truth.
6. The Enlightenment
• John Locke
• Locke viewed rhetoric as a problem.
• Language must make use of generalizations, but generalities don't really exist, only human perceptions of them.
• Stylistic extravagence causes language to deviate further from truth.
• These complaints led to a call for reform: deductive reasoning is outdated and stylist rhetoric made the search for truth more difficult.
• The Eighteenth Century
• Italian professor Giambattista Vico (early 18th century) defended rhetoric and challnged science's claim to epistemological superiority. (epistemology - the theory of knowledge)
• Vico argues Descartes methods relies on probability and belief just as rhetoric does.
• Rhetoric is superior because it trains young people for responsible civil action.
• Vico was dismissed and viewed as an opponent to scientific progress, but his argument is not entirely different from Bacon's admission about language.
• 18th century rhetoricians began to take a scientific look at the study of language, enlisting rhetoric as an ally instead of a dangerous enemy.
• They viewed classical authors as excellent observers of human nature.
• According to Locke's view, human nature has not changed since the time of the classical authors.
• Bacon's categories of genres relating to mental faculties:
• philosophy for Reason
• history for Memory
• literature for Imagination
• George Campbell's categories of genres relating to mental faculties:
• scientific demonstration for reason through perspicuity (clarity)
• rhetoric for human sentiments, passions, and dispostions
• Ultimately, rhetoric begins to move toward broader, more universal scientific theory.
• Rhetoric and Psychology
• The approach to psychology in the 18th century led to treating all minds as essentially the same, so therefore, rhetoric did not focus on the audience at all.
• This relates to Locke's theory of universal psychology.
7. Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric
• Alexander Bain
• 19th century psychologist Bain connected rhetoric and psychology.
• Figures of speech reflect mental operations of comparison, contrast, and association.
• Modes of discourse (description, narration, exposition, argument, poetry) correspond to mental faculties.
• Challenges to Rhetoric and Psychology
• Public speakers and audience became diverse, including white women and men of color.
• Therefore, for the first time, the race and sex of the speaker and audience was not necessarily the same.
• Sigmund Freud was interested in what was hidden in the speech (nonverbal and unconscious) instead of its persuasive effects.
• An expanding school curriculum shifted rhetoric into one or two semester courses instead of the lion's share of the curriculum. As it narrowed, rhetoric became more focused on written compostion (English literature), with seperate departments for speech focusing on oral delivery. Furthermore, the student body became more diverse (women, people of color).
• Friedrich Nietzshe (echoing the Sophists) argued truth is constructed by scientists and philosophers based on how they want the world to be.
• According to Nietzsche, language is always partial, always rhetorical.
8. Mordern and Postmodern Rhetoric
• The Twentieth Century
• According to I.A. Richards, rhetoric is the study of communcation and understanding.
• According to Kenneth Burke, all language is motivated, and thus, all language is rhetorical.
• According to Chaim Perelman, rhetoric is required for practical reasoning. Formal logic is abstract.
• According to Michel Foucault, language is intentional, powerful, and caught up in the creation of knowledge (echoing Nietzsche).
• Scientific knowledge does not progress by rational observation, but instead by argument.
• Accoring to current rhetorical theory, language is always persuasive in intent, and always imbued with ethics and ideology.
• New Rhetorics
• Even further participations by women and people of color.
• Conclusion: The history of rhetoric is the study of the struggle to understand the relationship between:
1. discourse and knowledge
2. communication and its effect
3. langauge and experience
• The latest theories continue to explore the same concerns from the classical tradition.