Instructors: Judy Segal
Section: 001
Term: 2
Meets: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion or influence—and the study of that art. Rhetorical theory offers a method for discovering the means of persuasion in public and private life, in institutional and social settings, across a range of media and genres.
There is no better way to understand rhetorical theory and method than to study rhetoric’s history—and its ancient history is an excellent place to start. Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric as “the faculty of discovering, in the particular case, what are the available means of persuasion” provides a strong beginning for rhetorical study, and his categories and terms provide a reliable procedure for rhetorical analysis.
Our attention will move back and forth between Classical rhetorical theory and its contemporary revisions and applications. Our primary texts are ancient—but we will also read contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, and consider the rhetorics of advertising, journalism, politics, law, and public discourse more generally. Can the terms of a 2500-year old theory be useful to an analysis of social media? (Yes!)
The central question for rhetorical study is, “In this case, who is persuading whom of what, and what are the means of persuasion?” Central questions about rhetorical beings (that is, all of us) are, “How do we come to believe what we believe?” and “What does it take to make us change our minds?” We will take up those questions, along with other, more specific, ones: “How can eloquence itself render a speaker unpersuasive?” and “What do people say to get audiences to trust them?”
Required Reading:
- Plato’s Phaedrus
- Aristotle’s Rhetoric
- Selections from Plato’s Gorgias — and from works by Gorgias (the Sophist), Isocrates, and Cicero
- Contemporary articles including (tentatively) the following:
- Carolyn Miller and Dawn Shepherd, “Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog” (2003)
- Barbara J. Blakely, “iPods, Viagra, and the Praiseworthy Life: Epideictic Rhetoric in Technology and Medical Print Advertising” (2011)
- Lisa Storm Villadsen, “Speaking on Behalf of Others: Rhetorical Agency and Epideictic Functions in Official Apologies” (2008)
- Susanna Dillipane, “Race, Rhetoric, and Running for President: Unpacking the Significance of Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ Speech” (2012)
- Leah Ceccarelli, “Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public Debate” (2011)
- Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals” (1987)
- Virginia Chappell, “Expert Testimony: ‘Regular People,’ and Public Values: Arguing Common Sense at a Death Penalty Trial” (1995)
Recommended Reading:
Plato, Gorgias (the whole thing; any translation)
Register here:
https://courses.students.ubc.ca/cs/main?pname=subjarea&tname=subjareas&req=5&dept=ENGL&course=310§ion=001
