BOOKS - AVAILABILITY & ABBREVIATIONS
- P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (eds.), The Rhetorical Tradition, 2nd ed. 0312148399 (=RT)
- K. Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives 9780520015463 (=RM)
- T. Conley, Rhetoric in the European Tradition 9780226114897
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
SESSION 1 (Sep 02) - INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF RHETORIC
Our first session will be devoted to an overview of the study of rhetoric as it is currently practiced in our own educational and professional setting, that is, the North American academy. (More . . .)
Readings
- David Zarefsky, "Institutional and Social Goals for Rhetoric," RSQ: Rhetoric Society Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2004): 27-38. [available via CMMC and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/6510/zarefsky.pdf (115 KB)]
- Bryant, Donald C. "Aspects of the Rhetorical Tradition - I The Intellectual Foundation." Quarterly Journal of Speech 36, no. 2 (1950): 169-76. [available via CMMC and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/6510/bryant1.pdf (982 KB)]
- Donald C. Bryant, "Aspects of the Rhetorical Tradition - II Emotion, Style, and Literary Association," Quarterly Journal of Speech 36, no. 3 (1950): 326-32. [available via CMMC and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/6510/bryant2.pdf (700 KB)]
- Patricia Bizzell, "Editing the Rhetorical Tradition," Philosophy & Rhetoric 36, no. 2 (2003): 109-18. [available via MUSE and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/6510/bizzell.pdf (88 KB)]
- Gerald L. Bruns, "What is Tradition?" New Literary History 22, no. 1 (1991): 1-21. [Available via JSTOR and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/6510/bruns.pdf (375 KB)]
Recommended Readings
- Steven Mailloux, "Places in Time: The Inns and Outhouses of Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech 92, no. 1 (2006): 53-68. [available via CMMC]
- James Arnt Aune, "The Politics of Rhetorical Studies: A Piacular Rite," Quarterly Journal of Speech 92, no. 1 (2006): 69-76. [available via CMMC]
- Alisse Theodore Portnoy, "Defining, Using, and Challenging the Rhetorical Tradition," Philosophy & Rhetoric 36, no. 2 (2003): 103-08. [available via MUSE]
- Maurice Rene Charland, "The Constitution of Rhetoric's Tradition," Philosophy & Rhetoric 36, no. 2 (2003): 119-34. [available via MUSE]
- Michael C. Leff, "Tradition and Agency in Humanistic Rhetoric," Philosophy & Rhetoric 36, no. 2 (2003): 135-47. [available via MUSE]
- Jacqueline Jones Royster, "Disciplinary Landscaping, Or Contemporary Challenges in the History of Rhetoric," Philosophy & Rhetoric 36, no. 2 (2003): 148-67. [available via MUSE]
LABOR-DAY HOLIDAY (Sep 07)
SESSION 2 (Sep 09): Rhetoric on the Eve of Modernity: Montaigne & Bacon
Having used our first session to get acquainted with the interests and concerns that shape the contemporary study of rhetoric, we now turn to our first set of historical readings and to the basic historiographical problem of our seminar -- the question of "modernity." The historical range of our class begins with the period of time that many contemporary historians now characterize as "early modernity"; so we will want to acquire some understanding of what is meant by "early modernity" in order to examine how rhetorical theories functioned within this context. As an introduction to the study of "modernity" we will read Stephen Toulmin's "What Is the Problem about Modernity?" the opening chapter of his Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (1990). We will then turn to the work of two intellectuals who are often associated with "early modernity" -- Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon. I find the juxtaposition of these two thinkers especially interesting in that both are critical of the rhetorical education of their time while devising new genres of prose that represent contrasting modes of experience: the experience of one's self (the personal essay) and the experience of the natural world (empirically-based scientific prose). (More . . .)
Required - Primary
- Michel de Montaigne, "On the Vanity of Words," in The Complete Essays, trans. M. A. Screech (London: Penguin Books, 1993), 341-44.
- Francis Bacon, from The Advancement of Learning, in The Rhetorical Tradition (RT) 740-45.
- ---, from Novum Organon, in RT 745-47.
Required - Secondary
- Stephen Toulmin, "What is the Problem About Modernity?," in Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1990), 5-44.
- Kurt Spellmeyer, "A Common Ground: The Essay in the Academy," College English 51, no. 3 (1989): 262-76.
- Robert J. Brake, "On 'Speechifiers Well Snubbed': Some Rhetorical Viewpoints of Montaigne," Quarterly Journal of Speech 56, no. 2 (1970): 205-13.
- Antoine Compagnon, "A Long Short Story: Montaigne's Brevity," trans. Carla Freccero. Yale French Studies 64, Montaigne: Essays in Reading (1983): 24-50.
- Brian Vickers, "Bacon and Rhetoric," in The Cambridge Companion to Bacon, ed. Markku Peltonen (Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge UP, 1996), 200-31.
- Sean Patrick O'Rourke, et al., "The Most Significant Passage on Rhetoric in the Works of Francis Bacon," RSQ: Rhetoric Society Quarterly 26, no. 3 (1996): 31-55.
Recommended
- Marc Cogan, "Rhetoric and Action in Francis Bacon." Philosophy & Rhetoric 14, no. 4 (1981): 212-33.
- Jeffrey Martin Green, "Montaigne's Critique of Cicero." Jounral of the History of Ideas 36, no. 4 (1975): 595-612.
- Samuel IJsseling, "Francis Bacon, René Descartes, and the New Science." In Rhetoric and Philosophy in Conflict: An Historical Survey. Translated by Paul Dunphy. 60-70. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1976.
- Zachary S. Schiffman, "Montaigne and the Rise of Skepticism in Early Modern Europe: A Reappraisal." Journal of the History of Ideas 45, no. 4 (1984): 499-516.
- Karl R. Wallace, "Francis Bacon on Understanding, Reason and Rhetoric." Speech Monographs 38, no. 2 (1971): 79-91.
SESSION 3 (Sep 16): Rhetoric and Truth in the Wake of Descartes
As we saw in Toulmin's "What Is the Problem About Modernity?" René Descartes' philosophy is regarded widely as pivotal, not only in the development of modern philosophy but, more generally, in the development of the modern epoch. Nevertheless, the impact of Cartesian thought on seventeenth-century rhetorical theory and rhetorical education has received little attention by English-speaking historians. This lack of attention is reflected by our anthology, which contains no representatives of seventeenth-century French rhetorical theory and education. Hence, in order to acquire some understanding of how rhetorical theory was influenced by Cartesianism, our third session is devoted to Descartes and some major essays and treatises in rhetorical theory written in the wake of Cartesianism: (I) an "literary" introduction to Descartes' Discourse on the Method, (II) excerpts from the enormously influential Port-Royal Logic by Arnauld and Nicole, (III) Pascal's "The Art of Persuasion," and (IV) excerpts from Lamy's treatise, The Art of Speaking. In addition to the primary texts, I have selected some scholarly articles/chapters to guide us. More . . .
Required - Primary
- Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole, excerpts from Logic, Or, the Art of Thinking, trans. Jill Vance Buroker. 5th ed., rev. and newly augmented ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996).
- Blaise Pascal, "The Art of Persuasion," in Pensées and Other Writings. ed. Anthony Levi, trans. Honor Levi (Oxford ; New York: Oxford UP, 1995), 193-204.
- Bernard Lamy, "Art of Speaking," in The Rhetorics of Thomas Hobbes and Bernard Lamy, ed. John T. Harwood (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986).
Required - Secondary
- Gerald L. Bruns, "A Literary Man's Guide to the Discourse on Method (1637)," boundary 2 8, no. 2 (1980): 141-64.
- Thomas M Carr, "Port-Royal and Eloquence: Rhetoric At the Margins," in Descartes and the Resilience of Rhetoric: Varieties of Cartesian Rhetorical Theory (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1990), 62-87.
- Hugh M. Davidson, "Pascal's Two Arts of Persuasion," in Audience, Words, and Art: Studies in Seventeenth-Century French Rhetoric ([Columbus]: Ohio State UP, 1965), 109-40.
- Barbara Warnick, "The Old Rhetoric vs. The New Rhetoric: The Quarrel Between the Ancients and the Moderns," Communication Monographs 49, no. 4 (1982): 263-76.
Recommended
- Douglas Ehninger, "Bernard Lami's L'Art de Parler: A Critical Analysis," Quarterly Journal of Speech 32, no. 4 (1946): 429-34.
- Samuel IJsseling, "Pascal and the Art of Persuasion," in Rhetoric and Philosophy in Conflict: An Historical Survey (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1976), 71-74.
- Kathleen M. Jamieson, "Pascal vs. Descartes: A Clash Over Rhetoric in the Seventeenth Century," Communication Monographs 43, no. 1 (1976): 44-50.
- Louis Marin, "'Pascal': Text, Author, Discourse.," trans. Maria Minich Brewer and Daniel August Brewer, Yale French Studies 52, Graphesis: Perspectives in Literature and Philosophy (1975): 129-51.
SESSION 4 (Sep 23): Rhetorical Antimodernism: Vico
Now that we have some background in Cartesianism and its influence on 17th-century rhetorical theory and education, we move to an important reaction to Cartesianism, especially to the rejection of "topical" invention that we saw most forcefully stated in the Port-Royal Logic of Arnauld and Nicole. This is the reaction of Giambattista Vico, who taught rhetoric at the Royal University of Naples beginning in 1699 until his retirement in 1741. Vico is typically remembered for his Scienza Nuova (1725) and its influence on Goethe, Rousseau, Coleridge, Marx, and James Joyce among others, especially its fundamental claim: verum ipsum factum, or "the true is what is made." We will be reading excerpts from his 1708 commencement address, De nostri temporis studiorum ratione (On the Study Methods of Our Time), in which advocates rhetorical education over the influence of Cartesianism in the university curriculum. I will also use this opportunity to talk a bit about the shortcomings of using translations, since the translation contained in our anthology contains some misleading errors. More . . .
Required - Primary
- Giambattista Vico, excerpts from On the Study Methods of Our Time, RT 862-80.
Required - Secondary
- Ernesto Grassi, "Critical Philosophy or Topical Philosophy? Meditations on the De nostri temporis studiorum ratione," trans. Hayden V. White, in Giambattista Vico: An International Symposium (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), 39-50.
- Jeffrey Barnouw, "Vico and the Continuity of Science: The Relation of His Epistemology to Bacon and Hobbes," Isis 71, no. 4 (1980): 609-20.
- Joseph M. Levine, "Giambattista Vico and the Quarrel Between the Ancients and the Moderns," Journal of the History of Ideas 52, no. 1 (1991): 55-79.
Recommended
- Robert A. Camponigri, "Umanità and Civilità: Civil Education in Vico." Review of Politics 31 (1969): 477-94.
- Linda Gardiner Janik, "A Renaissance Quarrel: The Origin of Vico's Anti-Cartesianism," New Vico Studies 1 (1983): 39-50.
- Henry J. Perkinson, "Giambattista Vico and 'the Method of Studies in Our Times': A Criticism of Descartes' Influence on Modern Education," History of Education Quarterly 2, no. 1 (1962): 30-46.
- Alain Pons, "Vico between the Ancients and the Moderns," New Vico Studies 11 (1993): 13-23.
SESSION 5 (Sep 30): Empiricism and Its Discontents: Locke, Astell, Hume
Required - Primary
- John Locke, excerpts from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, in RT 814-26.
- Mary Astell, excerpts from A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part II, in RT 841-61.
- David Hume, "Of Eloquence," in Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, ed. Eugene F. Miller (Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1987), 100-01.
- ---, "Of the Standard of Taste," in RT 828-40.
Required - Secondary
- Edward P. J. Corbett, "John Locke's Contributions to Rhetoric," College Composition and Communication 32, no. 4 (1981): 423-33.
- Christine Mason Sutherland, "Mary Astell: Reclaiming Rhetorica in the Seventeenth Century," in Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition, ed. Andrea A Lunsford (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995), 93-116.
- Adam Potkay, "Classical Eloquence and Polite Style in the Age of Hume," Eighteenth-Century Studies 25, no. 1 (1991): 31-56.
Recommended
- Wilbur Samuel Howell, "John Locke and the New Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech 53, no. 4 (1967): 319-33.
- Patricia Springborg, "Mary Astell (1666-1731), Critic of Locke," The American Political Science Review 89, no. 3 (1995): 621-33.
- John H. Patton, "Experience and Imagination: Approaches to Rhetoric By John Locke and David Hume," Southern Speech Communication Journal 41 (1975): 11-29.
SESSION 6 (Oct 07): Rhetoric and the British Enlightenment: Sheridan, Austin, Campbell, Blair,
Required - Primary
- Thomas Sheridan, A Course of Lectures on Elocution, Lecture VI, in RT 879-88.
- Gilbert Austin, from Chironomia, in RT 889-97.
- George Campbell, from The Philosophy of Rhetoric, in RT 898-946.
- Hugh Blair, from Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in RT 947-79.
Required - Secondary
- Andrew King, "The Most Significant Passage in George Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric: 'Six Nominations'," RSQ: Rhetoric Society Quarterly 13, no. 1 (1983): 3-3.
- Edward P. J. Corbett, "Hugh Blair as an Analyzer of English Prose Style," College Composition and Communication 9, no. 2 (1958): 98-103.
- Dwight Conquergood, "Rethinking Elocution: The Trope of the Talking Book and Other Figures of Speech," Text and Performance Quarterly 49, no. 4 (2000): 325-41.
Recommended
- Arthur E. Walzer, "Campbell on the Passions: A Rereading of the Philosophy of Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech 85, no. 1 (1999): 72-86.
- Philippa M. Spoel, "Rereading the Elocutionists: The Rhetoric of Thomas Sheridan's a Course of Lectures on Elocution and John Walker's Elements of Elocution," Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 19, no. 1 (2001): 49-91.
SESSION 7 (Oct 14): In the Wake of the Enlightenment: Romanticism & the Emergence of Modern University
Required - Primary
- Adam Müller, excerpts from Twelve Lectures on Rhetoric, trans. Dennis R. Bormann and Elisabeth Leinfellner (Ann Arbor, Mich: Published for University of Nebraska Press by University Microfilms International, 1978).
- Richard Whately, from Elements of Rhetoric, in RT 1000-1030.
- Thomas De Quincey, "Rhetoric," in Selected Essays on Rhetoric, ed. Frederick Burwick (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1967), 81-133.
- Alexander Bain, from English Composition and Rhetoric, in RT 1141-48.
- Herbert Spencer, "The Philosophy of Style," in RT 1152-67.
Required - Secondary
- Rex L. Veeder, "Romantic Rhetoric and the Rhetorical Tradition," Rhetoric Review 15, no. 2 (1997): 300-20.
- Dennis R. Bormann, "Adam Müller on the Dialogic Nature of Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech 66, no. 2 (1980): 169.
- Robert J. Connors, "The Rise and Fall of the Modes of Discourse," College Composition and Communication 32, no. 4 (1981): 444-55.
Recommended
- James A. Berlin, "Richard Whately and Current-Traditional Rhetoric," College English 42, no. 1 (1980): 10-17.
- Andrea A. Lunsford, "Alexander Bain's Contributions to Discourse Theory," College English 44, no. 3 (1982): 290-300.
- Russell Hirst, "Herbert Spencer's Philosophy of Style: Conserving Mental Energy," Journal of Technical Writing & Communication 34, no. 4 (2004): 265-90.
[Fall Break, Oct 17-20]
SESSION 8 (Oct 21): The Development of Rhetorical Education in 19th-Century North America
Required - Primary
- Fred Newton Scott, “Rhetoric Rediviva,” ed. Donald Stewart, College Composition and Communication 31 (1980): 413-19.
- Gertrude Buck, "The Present Status of Rhetorical Theory," Modern Language Notes 15, no. 3 (1900): 84-87.
- W. E. Mead, "The Graduate Study of Rhetoric," PMLA 15, Appendix (1900): xix-xxxii.
Required - Secondary
- Warren Guthrie, "The Development of Rhetorical Theory in America, 1635-1850," Speech Monographs 13 (1946): 14-22; 14 (1947): 38-54; 15 (1948): 61-71; 16 (August 1949): 98-113; 18 (March 1951): 17-30.
- Ronald F. Reid, "The Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory, 1806-1904: A Case Study in Changing Concepts of Rhetoric and Pedagogy," Quarterly Journal of Speech 45(3), no. 3 (1959): 239-57.
- Donald C. Stewart, "Rediscovering Fred Newton Scott," College English 40, no. 5 (1979): 539-47.
Recommended
- Frank D'Angelo, "Nineteenth-Century Forms/Modes of Discourse: A Critical Inquiry," College Composition and Communication 35, no. 1 (1984): 31-42.
- Donald C. Stewart, "The Status of Composition and Rhetoric in American Colleges, 1880-1902: An MLA Perspective," College English 47, no. 7 (1985): 734-46.
SESSION 9 (Oct 28): Rhetoric and the Philosophical Turn toward Language: Nietzsche, Peirce, and Richards
Required - Primary
- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Nietzsche's Lecture Notes on Rhetoric: A Translation," trans. Carole Blair, Philosophy & Rhetoric 16, no. 2 (1983): 94-129.
- ---, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense," in RT 1168-79.
- Charles Sanders Peirce, "Ideas, Stray Or Stolen, About Scientific Writing, No. 1," Philosophy & Rhetoric 11, no. 3 (1978): 147-55.
- ---, “Partial Synopsis of a Proposed Work in Logic,” Elements of Logic, ed. Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932), 42-66.
- I. A. Richards & C. K. Ogden, from The Meaning of Meaning, in RT 1270-80.
- I. A. Richards, from The Philosophy of Rhetoric, in RT 1281-94.
Required - Secondary
- Paul de Man, “Nietzsche’s Theory of Rhetoric.” Symposium 28 (1974): 33-51.
- John E. Braun, "The ‘Speculative Rhetoric’ of Charles Sanders Peirce," Philosophy & Rhetoric 14, no. 1 (1981): 1-15.
- Stuart C. Brown, "I. A. Richards' New Rhetoric: Multiplicity, Instrument, and Metaphor," Rhetoric Review 10, no. 2 (1992): 218-31.
Recommended
- Jessica N. Berry, "The Pyrrhonian Revival in Montaigne and Nietzsche," Journal of the History of Ideas 65, no. 3 (2004): 497-514.
- J. M. Krois, “Peirce’s Speculative Rhetoric and the Problem of Natural Law” Philosophy & Rhetoric 14 (1981): 16-30.
- M. Bilsky, “I. A. Richards’s Theory of Metaphor,” Modern Philology 50 (1952): 130-37.
SESSION 10 (Nov 04): Rhetoric and a Theory of Human Relations: Burke
Required - Primary
- Kenneth Burke, from A Grammar of Motives, in RT 1295-1323
- ---, A Rhetoric of Motives
Required - Secondary
- Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, “The Ontological Foundations of Rhetorical Theory,” Philosophy & Rhetoric 3 (1970): 97-108.
SESSION 11 (Nov 11): Rhetoric as Practical Reasoning: McKeon, Perelman, Toulmin, Scott
Required - Primary
- Richard McKeon, "Mankind: The Relation of Reason to Action," Ethics 74, no. 3 (1964): 174-85.
- Chaim Perelman, “The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning,” in RT 1384-1409.
- Stephen Toulmin, from The Uses of Argument, in RT 1410-1429.
- Robert L. Scott, “On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic,” Central States Speech Journal 18 (1967): 9-17.
Required - Secondary
- Don Paul Abbott, "The Jurisprudential Analogy: Argumentation and the New Rhetoric." Central States Speech Journal 25 (1974): 50-55.
- Herbert W. Simons, “Introduction: The Rhetoric of Inquiry as an Intellectual Movement,” The Rhetorical Turn, ed. Herbert W. Simons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 1-31.
Recommended
- Barry Brummett, “A Eulogy for Epistemic Rhetoric,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 76 (1990): 69-72.
SESSION 12 (Nov 18): Rhetoric and Philosophical Hermeneutics: Gadamer, Ricoeur, & Vattimo
Required - Primary
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, "The Expressive Power of Language: On the Function of Rhetoric for Knowledge," trans. Bruce Krajewski and Richard Heinemann, PMLA 107, no. 2 (1992): 345-52.
- Paul Ricoeur, “Between Rhetoric and Poetics,” Essays on Aristotle’s Rhetoric, ed. Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 324-84.
- Gianni Vattimo, “Truth and Rhetoric in Hermeneutic Ontology,” The End of Modernity: Nihilism and Hermeneutics in Postmodern Culture, trans. Jon R. Snyder (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), 130-44.
Required - Secondary
- Steven Mailloux, "Rhetorical Hermeneutics," Critical Inquiry 11, no. 4 (1985): 620-41.
Recommended
- Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala, "'Weak Thought' and the Reduction of Violence: A Dialogue With Gianni Vattimo," trans. Yaakov Mascetti, Common Knowledge 8, no. 3 (2002): 452-63.
- Ruthellen Josselson, "The Hermeneutics of Faith and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion," Narrative Inquiry 14, no. 1 (2004): 1-28.
SESSION 13 (Nov 25): Rhetoric and the Poststructuralist Critique of the Human Sciences: Foucault, Derrida, Cixous, Gates
Required - Primary
- Michel Foucault, from The Archeology of Knowledge, in RT 1432-59.
- ---, from The Order of Discourse, in RT 1460.
- Jacques Derrida, “White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy,” Margins of Philosophy, trans. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 207-71.
- Hélène Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa," in RT 1520-36.
- Henry Louis Gates, from "The Signifying Monkey and the Language of Signifyin(g)," in RT 1543-81.
Required - Secondary
- Barbara Biesecker, "Michel Foucault and the Question of Rhetoric," Philosophy & Rhetoric 25, no. 4 (1992): 351-64.
- Bernard Harrison, "'White Mythology' Revisited: Derrida and His Critics on Reason and Rhetoric," Critical Inquiry 25, no. 3 (1999): 505-34.
Recommended
- Edward W. Said, "The Problem of Textuality: Two Exemplary Positions," Critical Inquiry 4, no. 4 (1978): 673-714.
SESSION 14 (Dec 02): Visual and New Media Rhetorics
Required - Primary
- Roland Barthes, "Rhetoric of the Image," Image, Music, Text. Ed. and trans. Stephen Heath (New York: Hill and Wang, 1977), 32-51.
- Richard A. Lanham, "The Electronic Word: Literary Study and the Digital Revolution," New Literary History 20, no. 2, Technology, Models, and Literary Study (1989): 265-90.
- Barbara Warnick, "Rhetorical Criticism in New Media Environments," Rhetoric Review 20, no. 1/2 (2001): 60-5.
- James P. Zappen, "Digital Rhetoric: Toward an Integrated Theory," Technical Communication Quarterly 14, no. 3 (2005): 319-25.
