Randy Harris
Hagey Hall 247, x5362Course epitome
Home phone (Milton): (905) 876-3972
E-mail: raha@watarts
Hours: Wednesday & Thursday, 4:00-5:30, or whenever you can catch me
"A study of rhetorical theories from the Classical Period (Pre-Socratic to Augustine) with an emphasis on how these theories reflect changing attitudes towards language, reality, and the self."
We will be looking at the early history of rhetoric, from its invention as a discipline in quasi-democratic Greek antiquity to its absorption into authoritarian Christian ideology with the early Middle Ages. Primarily we will be focussing on the ideas of a few major figures, labelling theories via menâs names, and a few instrumental concepts. The governing theme throughout will be how we formulate and negotiate beliefs (including the really tough beliefs we call "knowledge") by our traffic in symbols, and their traffic in us.Required texts
Murphy et al., A synoptic history of classical rhetoricStyle guide
Covino, Elements of persuasion
Aaron, McArthur, The Little, Brown Compact Handbook
Requirements | ||
% | Date | |
Midterm | 20% | 29 October |
Final | 30% | 11 December 9-12; AL 124 |
Academic Essay OR Change-the-world project |
30% | 2 December |
Being Rhetorical | 20% | all the live-long day |
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Midterm
You will have to know both "facts" and "ideas". The exam will test mostly the former, with multiple-choice, true-false, short-answer questions. It will cover material up to and including the 28 October class.Final
More of the same, but with some essay questions thrown in to chart the "ideas" quotient of the course. It will cover the entire course.Term Project
You can do either an academic essay OR a change-the-world project; see below for details.An academic essay
Critical. Start with a concept (logos, arrangement, opinion, contingency, metaphor, ...) and watch it develop through the course (and help it develop through the course; see "Being rhetorical" above). Do some outside reading on it (a.k.a. library research). Collect original data illustrating it (a.k.a. empirical research). Write a paper which shows (1) awareness of how that concept is rhetorical, especially in the terms of the ancients; and (2) original thought on how that notion operates in any given discursive universe. Prototypical topics are "The Ethos of Jean Chretien's Hep-B Speeches--Ciceronian or Aristotelian?", "Kairos in Rink-Board Advertising", and "Pathos as Argument in The Sweet Hereafter". The analyses in Elements of Persuasion are good models.
Theoretical. Alternately, you might do a more purely theoretical paper,--say, comparing Isocrates and Augustine on the notions of value in discourse, or discussing the role of deliberative orations during the second sophistic. Again, you would need to demonstrate (1) awareness of the rhetorical dimensions of the concept under discussion, and (2) original thought on its function in the context you examine. But your focus should be on rhetorical theory or general practices, not on a specific body of practical discourse.
Evaluation
Start thinking about your project immediately. Iâm not kidding. Rhetoric is, at its heart, the use of symbols to make things different. The world is a big place?even the facets of it visible in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada?and symbols are very powerful little beasts. So there are lots of opportunities. But twelve weeks is not very much time. The problem (what you want to change).
- The method (how you tried to change it).
- The narration (what did you do, what did 'they' do, what else did you do, what else did 'they' do ...).
- The analysis (how effective was your rhetoric, how effective was 'their' rhetoric).
- All relevant documentation (copies of letters, copies of posters, addresses of websites, transcripts of speeches, and so on) in one or more appendixes.
Come to class, contribute to discussions, participate in the building and the development of the course.
Ways to get a good grade: ask relevant questions, make salient observations, look for and point out connections in the material, complain about the unbelievable pressure of having to be rhetorical on demand, ...NotesWays to get a mediocre grade: sit in your seat; avoid eye contact with the professor.
Ways to get a poor grade: stay away from class, make long irrelevant commentaries, treat your fellow students with extravagant disrespect, ...
Do the readings before the assigned class.LinksIf you have any questions, please make sure you ask them.
Familiarize yourself with Policy #71, especially as to plagiarism and other forms of cheating.
Douglass Project
Lady Rhetoric
Fallacies
RhetNet
Figures
Figures Look up
Georgia Tech Server
Classics Server
Great Contemporary Speeches
Plato's Gorgias
Plato's Phaedrus