Temporary syllabus
English 514 – HISTORY OF RHETORIC
TH 7:30-8:45 – Tompkins G121
Fall 2005
Dr. Hans Kellner
(261 Tompkins Hall, 515-4163, )
Office hours: T 10:30-11:45, W 9-11, TH 3-4:30)
Here’s what the catalogue says about English 514 -- Contemporary rhetorical theory and its development from classical rhetoric; emphasis on differences between oral and written communication and the relevance of traditional theory to purposes and constraints of writing. Special attention to current issues: revival of invention, argumentation and truth, contributions of research in composition.
And it is pretty accurate… Rhetoric’s history is good for at least three indispensable seminars, which we don’t have. So in this one I shall take the ancient core as a living thing which continues to generate controversies. Western rhetoric is controversial.
***
Books:
Patricia Bizzell & Bruce Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition : Readings from Classical
Times to the Present. This is the invaluable collection of works, an important part
of your professional library.
Thomas M. Conley, Rhetoric in the European Tradition. This book will serve as
background and reference. You should use it to bring the materials we’re
discussing into focus.
There are a lot of classical rhetoric sites on the WWW. Look at
Silva rhetoricae:
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm
Reading: (B/H=Bizzell and Herzberg)
q August 18 – “A Brief History of Rhetoric and Composition” (on-line) and Crowley, “Composition is Not Rhetoric.”
q August 23, 25 -- B/H, 1-67, T. Poulakos “Human Agency…”., Crowley “Gorgias and Grammatology.”
q August 30, Sept. 1 –; B/H Isocrates, J. Poulakos “Terms for Sophistic Rhetoric”, E. Schiappa, Jarratt
q September 6, 8 -- B/H Plato, Gorgias , Ijsseling from Rhetoric and Philosophy in Conflict, Moss, “The Case for Sophistry”
q September 13, 15 – B/H Phaedrus, B/H Weaver, Havelock, Ong
q September 20, 22 -- B/H Aristotle
q Oct. 4 - B/H Toulmin, ethos pieces, B/H Gates
q Oct. 11, 13 – B/H Cicero, Quintilian, Lanham “Q Question”
q October 18, 20 – B/H Augustine, Augustine on Psalms, Auerbach, “Figura,” H. White on Auerbach, H. Kellner, “After the Fall,” Frye, Great Code.
q October 25, 27 –. B/H Erasmus, B/H Cixous, B/H Castiglione, Lanham, B/H Ramus
q November 1, 3 – Journal Week I *
q November 8, 10 – B/H Vico, Vico, New Science, HVW, Nietzsche
q November 15, 17 – B/H Longinus, Kant, Lyotard, Kellner
q November 22 -- B/H Austin, http://enculturation.gmu.edu/3_2/
q November 29, December 1 – B/H Burke
First assignment (due 25 August) – consider Gorgias’s’ “Encomium for Helen” and Takis Poulakos, “Human Agency” or Crowley’s “Gorgias and Grammatology.” Follow the format below.
1 Sept. – Poulakos/Schiappa
15 Sept. Phaedrus
Your essays will have the following format: a) it is one page in length (8.5x11 or 8.5x14); b) except for line numbers, which may be added by hand or computer, it may use all but the top line, which will contain the author’s name, identification of the assignment, and the date; c) Arial 10 type (this is in Arial 10); d) the content will be of two kinds – 2/3rds to 3/4ths will be a summarizing of the assignment in question, and an application of the contents in question to a humanistic text. This may be a literary work, a film, a work of art, a city plan, tv commercial, etc.
The summary should be as full and detailed as possible. Quotations are acceptable but lengthy ones should be avoided. Ideas should be rendered in your own words as much as possible.
* In the journal weeks each student will search one of the following journals – print or electronic, last five years – and report on an article of relevance to this course. The choices must be cleared with me. These reports will follow the standard format and will be distributed to the class for discussion. Suggested journals – Philosophy and Rhetoric, RSQ, Rhetorica, JAC, CCC, Pre/Text (http://www.utdallas.edu/pretext/index1a.html), Rhetoric Review, Enculturation http://enculturation.gmu.edu/), Kairos (http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/)
Other Information (most of which has nothing whatever to do with this course, but…):
Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/offices/affirm_action/dss/ For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation.
Academic Integrity: Cheating, plagiarism, aiding or abetting others to cheat or plagiarized are not acceptable and will be dealt with according to the Code of Student Conduct (http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/student_services/student_discipline/POL11.35.1.php).
There are no prerequisites for this course. This course meets the GER literature requirement.
Rationale for General Education Courses: The humanities and the social sciences comprise the subjects and disciplines that use various modes of rational inquiry to understand human nature and experience, organization and change in human societies, the nature of the world, and rational inquiry itself. An education in the humanities and social sciences requires reading significant works, gaining an exposure to a variety of methodologies, and learning to apply these in written exposition. An education in the basic humanistic disciplines is a necessary part of being truly educated -- of becoming a citizen with a broad knowledge of human cultures and with well-considered moral, philosophical, aesthetic, and intellectual convictions.
Each course in the general humanities category of the General Education Requirements will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:understand and engage in the human experience through the interpretation of human culture and artifacts (this objective must be the central focus of each humanities course); and become aware of the act of interpretation itself as a critical form of knowing in the humanities; and make academic arguments about the human experience using reasons and evidence for supporting those reasons that are appropriate to the humanities. In addition, each course appearing on one of the specific humanities lists meets the objectives for the specific category as detailed below. Objectives for courses in the category of Literature:
Each course within the literature category of the General Education Requirements in the Humanities will provide instruction and guidance that help students to understand and engage in the human experience through the interpretation of literature (this objective must be the central focus of each literature course); and become aware of the act of interpretation itself as a critical form of knowing in the study of literature; and make scholarly arguments about literature using reasons and ways of supporting those reasons that are appropriate to the field of study.