Concepts of Rhetoric
Defining Rhetoric
The traditional definition of rhetoric is “the art of speaking and writing effectively.” During the 4th century B.C., Aristotle wrote the Rhetoric in which he defined rhetoric as discovering all available means of persuasion on a topic. Thus, for Aristotle, rhetoric has a clear persuasive function, but also an epistemic function--it serves as a way to discover what is known and what can be known about a subject. In the book, “The Rhetorical Tradition” Bizzell and Hersberg put forth the idea that classical rhetoric was used to “manage knowledge” – that it “conveyed knowledge but did not create it.” Classical rhetoric was in fact dependent on the speaker/author understanding all available sides of the issue and arguing a specific angle. In order to do this the author used rhetorical conventions to help persuade their audience to their way of thinking. These include developing a rhetorical awareness of the audience and situation, along with using Aristotle’s Five Canons and Rhetorical Appeals. Rhetorical Analysis In order to write an effective speech or written text, the author must first analyze the rhetorical situation – develop a rhetorical awareness about the piece: 1. What is the purpose of the piece and what ulterior agenda the author has 2. Who is the audience for the piece along with what do they bring with them that will impact their reception of the text along with how they will respond to the message. 3. What is the context or the social/cultural situation surrounding the text that is influencing the development and reception of the message. Extrapolation to professional writing The idea of rhetorical awareness for professional writing includes the following concept: Professional writing is persuasive. For example, when a writer composes a résumé, the persuasive goal is to get a job interview. Similarly, a report writer may need to persuade a client to take action to improve work conditions ensuring employee safety. Professional writing, since it's persuasive, must consider the rhetorical situation: o Purpose (why the document is being written, the goals of the document. o Audience (who will read the document, includes shadow readers-unintended audiences who might read your work). o Stakeholders (who may be affected by the document or project). o Context (the background of and situation in which the document is created). Finally, through rhetorical awareness, professional communication has shifted from a genre-based approach, which focused on learning and reproducing forms or templates of documents, to thinking about the goals and situations surrounding the need to write. While professional writing still uses reports, white papers, etc., authors should approach these texts considering the rhetorical situation rather than considering documents as isolated work. |
Digital Rhetoric
The area of defining and developing a theory of digital rhetoric is one that is currently underway by many modern day scholars whose focus is in the discipline of rhetorical theory. One of these scholars, James Zappen, in his article "Digital Rhetoric: Toward an Integrated Theory" states that this endeavor is: "at once exciting and troublesome. It is exciting because it holds promise of opening new vistas of opportunity for rhetorical studies and troublesome because it reveals the difficulties and the challenges of adapting a rhetorical tradition more than 2,000 years old to the conditions and constraints of the new digital media, (Zappen)". While we will not delve into the creation of digital rhetoric here, we will look at some basic elements of rhetorical theory that can be expanded on to include the digital text. These are: 1. Rhetorical Analysis (see previous segment) 2. Five canons 3. Rhetorical Appeals Aristotle’s Five Canons: 1. Invention: The Latin term inventio means "invention" or "discovery." Invention is a process of systematically discovering arguments about a given topic. This topic exploration spans a wide variety of methods including research. In modern writing instruction, we usually refer to this part of the writing process as "prewriting." 2. Arrangement: The classical rhetoricians referred to this canon as dispositio, meaning "disposition" or "arrangement." Arrangement is the process of arranging the parts of a discourse in the order that will be most effective to achieve the rhetorical goal or intention. We often refer to this as "structure" or "organization." 3. Style: Because of their focus on spoken delivery, classical rhetoricians referred to style as elocutio. Style is an elusive quality and, therefore, difficult to define. We can, however identify particular elements of style: word choice (diction), sentence and paragraph length and arrangement, use of imagery and metaphor, etc. In digital texts this includes elements of design and visual rhetoric. 4. Memory: Important in ancient discourse Use of mnemonic devices Today we rely on notes. 5. Delivery: Initially Oral Presentation was stressed. This concept is still important in certain contexts today! These concepts have, over time, expanded to include print and now digital texts. Next, the Rhetorical Appeals… The Rhetorical Appeals Aristotle’s treatise also discusses rhetorical appeals – or ways to construct arguments in order to reach your audience. These appeals are Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Logos: appeals to reason - logic. A message sender uses logical reasoning such as inductive and deductive reasoning, definition, evidence from other sources, expert testimony, etc. to appeal to the receiver. Pathos: appeals to emotions. A sender uses adjectives, feelings, sensory descriptions, etc. to appeal to the receiver. Ethos: appeals to the receiver’s view of the speaker and subject. Are they of high moral character? Do they show a keen sense of what they are talking about? Are they discriminating? While these appeals originally referred to oral communication, they were passed on and expanded to include written communications. As stated previously, modern scholars are currently working with these concepts of rhetoric and expanding them from speech to texts to visuals and digital realms. While we are still in the process of making connections from rhetorical practices to digital texts, there is one area in our modern world that works extensively with rhetorical principles, especially rhetorical appeals. That is the area of mass media and advertising. Work Cited Zappen, James; "Digital Rhetoric: Toward an Integrated Theory". TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY,14(3), 319–325 Copyright © 2005, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. |