Hauser-Chapter Two Notes

John Dewey argued that in decision making, the actions of groups/individual people carried indirect consequences for the lives of the citizens that were not a part of the decision making process.

• Ex: Holy Year in Rome

"Rhetorical communication can be used to foster or to inhibit participatory processes" p.17

Rhetoric as a Social Practice

Earliest examples of rhetoric was in Greece--their oratory was examined in their political and military assemblies

• Most effective speeches shared certain traits--same as today
• Rhetoric=powerful in bringing agreement that could change human relations

Perciles example of the Athenians being killed in battle, but the speeches afterward had a focus of celebrating the virtues of public life, which created than image of grieving citizens to see beyond personal loss to a model of citizenship practices.

• Happens today too-Sept 11th

Aristotle: two dominant aspects of public discourse=method and social consequences

Social practice refers to modes of conduct that are constitutive of an act

• Do this in teaching a lot-try to make the students feel confident in their skills so that they participate in the classroom, attempt homework, etc.

Rhetoric as an art of practical discourse emerged in relation to other discursive social practices pertaining to public life: narrative and dialetic

Narrative

Cooperation requires agreement among individuals concerning common interests and usually norms that express them

• Social norms, traditions, organizations, etc

Homer's tales had moral tales that had validity in every day life.

• Tales showed political/social guidance that the citizens needed

Narratives transmit norms--doesn't challenge them

Dialetic

The Republic by Plato attacked the way that poets didn't teach critical thinking

Philosophers wanted the norms of communal living to be based on truths

Dialetic was a method of question and answer

• Plate learned this from his teacher Socrates
• Critical examination
• Discover the Truths for yourself through active discussion

Today, dialetic=critical thinking

• My opinion: dialetic is more used in the classroom while narrative is something used outside the classroom/workplace and is less formal

Dialetic truths are based off of assumptions--however, no guarantee that the world is reflected accurately in those assumptions

No guarantee that dialetic will lead to appropriate action

Rhetoric

"When we confront social problems, we lack an obviously correct course of action. What we decide to do is contingent on what we want to accomplish, what we value, and what we find intellectually, emotionally, and ethically appealing." p. 24

Rhetoric focuses on making action

Sophist rhetoric was based on the idea of arguing from probability

• Teaching their students a thought process---arguing from both sides of an issue in order to discover which had the stronger argument (called dissoi logoi, or two-sided argument)

Prepon=appropriate for a specific time and place (characteristic of sophist rhetoric)

Kairos=right time and right place

• Timing
• Ex: "I Have a Dream Speech"

Look at table on p. 30 for differences/similarities between narrative, dialetic, and rhetoric

Rhetorical modes of thinking are still important today--still face problematic situations that require common effort to be resolved.

Rhetoric as a Method

Rhetoric is generally understood as using symbols to induce and coordinate social action

• Ex: music, dance, cinema
• Influence our perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

Basic concern in rhetoric: how party A speaks or writes to party B to affect that person's choices

Methodical rather than substantive

• More concerned with hows of communication than whats being communicated

Both dialetic and rhetoric are modes of arguing

• Dialetic is used when experts discuss in technical fashion
• Rhetoric used to suit laypeople

Dialetic and rhetoric are very similar; have important differences too

• Windows example/lawsuit

Logos-arugment based on reason

Pathos-appeal based on emotion

Ethos-argument based on authority