The study of rhetoric, one of the original seven Liberal Arts (along with logic, grammar, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music), has a long and proud history, stretching back to the 5th century BCE and up to the present day. Both a productive and interpretive art, it is decidedly cross-disciplinary: the principles of rhetoric (audience, context, kairos, exigency, ethos, pathos, logos, and so forth) are consistently employed, for example, not only in literary analysis but in law, politics, education, science, and religion.
This course introduces students to common rhetorical principles and to the disciplinary history of rhetoric and writing studies. Assignments in the class will offer students the chance to identify and apply these rhetorical principles while composing, interpreting, and presenting “texts”—oral, print, and/or electronic. The course will meet all necessary requirements to qualify as an writing flag course.
At the end of the term, students should be able to:
(1) Write an effective rhetorical analysis.
(2) Write a responsible argument relevant to a contested issue.
(3) Discourse about some of the major issues in the field (such as: What is the relationship between truth and language? How do technologies of communication affect discourse? What is "good" public argument? What constitutes a quality rhetorical education? and so on.)
(4) Situate the significance of some of the canonical figures in rhetorical studies.
(5) Apply the basic principles of rhetorical study, as mentioned above, to contemporary situations.