[lbo-talk] On the Limits of Rhetoric

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Carrol wrote:
>But in this post I'm going to assume that in most, perhaps all, uses 
>of the term (not just on this list but by, e.g., Kenneth Burke, 
>Deirdre McCloskey, or Wayne Booth) its original senses still operate 
>powerfully -- and all those original uses of the term (Aristotle, 
>Cicero, Quintilian, Renaissance rhetoricians) make two assumptions: 
>(a) that speaker (usually speaker, not writer) and listener 
>(audience rather than readership) directly confront each other in a 
>framework agreeable to both (e.g., a parliament) and (b) that there 
>is _almost_ complete agreement on all the important issues between 
>speaker and listener. The "almost" is of great importance, for the 
>difference is of course the reason for speaking; but the "[nearly] 
>complete agreement" is the context within which the persuasion 
>proceeds. The whole of the art is directed to demonstrating that 
>this large shared agreement dictates that the speaker's position on 
>the small area of disagreement should prevail.

In other words, rhetoric is about narrowcasting, rather than 
broadcasting.  Think about each rhetorical situation* first of all, 
and then present the ethos, pathos, and logos of your persuasion 
accordingly.

* <blockquote>Some elements of the rhetorical situation include:

1. Exigence: What happens or fails to happen? Why is one compelled to 
speak out?
2. Persons: Who is involved in the exigence and what roles do they play?
3. Relations: What are the relationships, especially the differences 
in power, between the persons involved?
4. Location: Where is the site of discourse? e.g. a podium, 
newspaper, web page, etc.
5. Speaker: Who is compelled to speak or write?
6. Audience: Who does the speaker address and why?
7. Method: How does the speaker choose to address the audience?
8. Institutions: What are the rules of the game 
surrounding/constraining numbers 1 through 7.

<http://rhetorica.net/kairos.htm></blockquote>
-- 
Yoshie

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