DRAFT COMM 509: Classical Rhetorical Theory

***DRAFT***

COMM 509: Classical Rhetorical Theory Spring, 2011 2:00-4:50 Th, ASC 223

Professor: Dr. Randy Lake Office: ASC 206C Hours: TBA and by appointment (I typically will be in the office four days a week, so appointments should be fairly easy to obtain.) Telephone: (213) 740-3946 E-mail: [email protected] (This is the most efficient way to reach me. I check my e-mail regularly during the weekday, when I am in the office. However, weekends and evenings are much more sporadic so, if you e-mail me at these times, please do not expect an immediate reply.)

Objectives: This course introduces students to the critical and humanistic traditions in communication theory, emphasizing the Greco-Roman tradition (other traditions, including African, Chinese, and Islamic, are less well-known or -understood). The ancient term typically employed to denote these traditions is “rhetoric.” Thus, this course covers the essential foundations of rhetorical inquiry.

A primary goal of the course is to familiarize students with the enduring (eternal? interminable?) questions and issues that have animated theorizing about communication for centuries, those key moments of rupture during which these questions and issues have been transformed, and–of course–the central contributions of key theorists. This means that, while the classical period is emphasized, we necessarily will gesture toward other periods–from the medieval to the contemporary–in considering the legacies of this era. A key working assumption is that theories do not arise in a vacuum; it will be important to consider the cultural and historical contexts in which theories developed, and the forces that shaped theorists’ writings. Our key procedure will be to encounter the primary texts (albeit in English translation!), determining for ourselves what they are “up to” before engaging the secondary literatures and interpretive controversies that have developed. A second goal of the course is to cultivate a capacity for critical evaluation and construction of theory.

Website: There is a course website, located at blackboard.usc.edu. All students enrolled in this course have access to the website through their USC username and password. This website is an official place for posting information relevant to the class, such as announcements, assignments, and grades, for discussing lecture materials, and so on. You are as responsible for knowing any material posted to the website as you would be responsible for material distributed or discussed during class.

Required Texts: Plato, Gorgias and Phaedrus Aristotle, Rhetoric and Poetics Isocrates, Antidosis and Against the Sophists Cicero, De Oratore Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria Longinus, On the Sublime Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana W. H. Auden, ed., The Portable Greek Reader (New York: Penguin, 1977) Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (New York: Anchor, 2003) Basil Davenport, ed., The Portable Roman Reader (New York: Penguin, 1977) Other readings as assigned

Suggested: Many good synoptic secondary sources are available as background and “reference.” A good one is George A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric (Princeton UP, 1994). Also there are three encyclopedic works: (1) Thomas O. Sloane, ed., Encyclopedia of Rhetoric (New York: Oxford UP, 2001); (2) James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric: Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001); and (3) Theresa Enos, ed., Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age (NY: Garland, 1996). A good supplementary work on Western intellectual history in general (the larger scene within which developments in rhetoric took place) is John Herman Randall, Jr., The Making of the Modern Mind: A Survey of the Intellectual Background of the Present Age (50th anniv. ed.; New York: Columbia UP, 1976).

Assignments: Weekly written reactions to readings. To help guide your reading, I will post broad discussion questions for each week’s readings in advance. You may wish to formulate answers to these questions, and/or synthesize the readings and identify key issues, concepts, etc., and/or critique, and/or ask questions and otherwise seek clarification. These reactions (which will not be graded) will help guide our discussion; in order to facilitate this, please post your comments to the Discussion Board section of the website for the appropriate week no later than 10:00 p.m. each Wednesday evening. Individual posts will not be graded but participation in the Discussion Board, like participation in class discussion, is a factor in overall course grades. Discussion, of course. In a graduate seminar, your participation is extremely important; I hope to lecture only occasionally. Reports, on topics or additional readings, as assigned. Please prepare handouts as appropriate to supplement your oral presentation. Handouts should synopsize essential points; these points should be amplified and illustrated during presentation. One seminar project, on a topic of your choosing, suitable given course content, and approved by me in advance. Collaborative projects are possible. Strive for a paper that, at the end of the term, is ready for submission to a professional conference, if not for publication. Approx. 25-30 pages. Due final class session, Thursday, April 28, at which it will be presented. Technology: Please turn off cell phones before coming to class. I am not fond of computers being used to take notes during class because, in my experience, they interfere with the form and level of interaction that we are seeking. I will tolerate them on a trial basis, but reserve the right to banish them should they become intrusive or hamper your participation. (Needless to say, computers never should be used for nonclass-related activities.)

Tentative Weekly Schedule: Some minor adjustments in the following topics undoubtedly will be necessary as the semester progresses. A more elaborate guide will be provided weekly. January 13 Introduction to the course. 20 The epic poets and presocratic philosophers. READ: Cahill, Chapters 1-3. Auden, selections as follows: Introduction; Hesiod, The Creation and The Five Ages; Sophocles, Zeus; Heraclitus, The Word; Parmenides, The Real; Empedocles, Love & Strife; Homer, The Epic Hero (both selections); Pindar, The Athlete (Nemea 6 only). 27 The sophists and Socrates. READ: Cahill, Chapter 4. Auden, selections as follows: Aeschylus, The Tragic Hero (all); Sophocles, Man; Antiphon, Nature and Culture. Gorgias, Encomium of Helen. Anonymous, Dissoi Logoi. Plato, Menexenus (excerpt on Aspasia). John Poulakos, “Toward a Sophistic Definition of Rhetoric.” Robert L. Scott, “On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic.” REPORTS: Giambattista Vico, On the Study Methods of Our Time. Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. February 3 Plato. READ: Gorgias. Cahill, Chapter 5. REPORTS: Adele Spitzer, “The Self- Reference of the Gorgias.” Steven Rendall, “Dialogue, Philosophy, and Rhetoric: The Example of Plato’s Gorgias.” Charles Kauffman, “Enactment as Argument in the Gorgias.” Paul Newell Campbell, “The Gorgias: Dramatic Form as Argument.” 10 Plato, continued. READ: Phaedrus. Auden, selections as follows: Plato, Eros. REPORTS: Edwin Black, “Plato’s View of Rhetoric.” Oscar L. Brownstein, “Plato’s Phaedrus: Dialectic as the Genuine Art of Speaking.” Charles Kauffman, “The Axiological Foundations of Plato’s Theory of Rhetoric.” SUGGESTED: Charles L. Griswold, Jr., Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Phaedrus (Yale, 1986). 17 Isocrates. READ: Antidosis; Against the Sophists. Erika Rummel, “Isocrates’ Ideal of Rhetoric: Criteria of Evaluation.” Werner Jaeger, “The Rhetoric of Isocrates and Its Cultural Ideal.” REPORTS: Poulakos, Speaking for the Polis. 24 Aristotle. READ: Rhetoric, Books I-II. Auden, selections as follows: Aristotle, “The Great Man,” “The Happy Man,” “Self-Love,” and “Types of States.” Lloyd Bitzer, “Aristotle’s Enthymeme Revisited.” Thomas Conley, “The Enthymeme in Perspective.” March 3 Aristotle, continued. READ: Rhetoric, Book III; Poetics. Wilbur Samuel Howell, “Rhetoric and Poetics: A Plea for the Recognition of the Two Literatures.” Charles Kauffman, “Poetic as Argument.” Leon Golden, “Catharsis.” 10 The Romans. Cicero. READ: De Oratore (all). George Kennedy, excerpt on De Oratore. Paul MacKendrick, “Cicero’s Ideal Orator–Truth and Propaganda.” REPORTS: Pseudo-Cicero, Rhetorica ad Herennium. 24 Quintilian. READ: Institutio Oratoria, Books I-III, X-XII. George Kennedy, excerpt on Quintilian. Alan Brinton, “Quintilian, Plato, and the Vir Bonus.” REPORTS: Longinus, On the Sublime. 31 Christianity and Augustine. READ: De Doctrina Christiana. Cahill, Chapter 7. REPORTS: The Second Sophistic; Stasis theory. April 7 The medieval legacy. READ: Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova. Robert of Basevorn, The Form of Preaching. Anonymous of Bologna, The Principles of Letter-Writing. Christine de Pizan, Treasure of the City of Ladies. 14 Lurching toward modernity: The Renaissance and Enlightenment. READ: James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin, The Portable Renaissance Reader, Introduction. Paul Oskar Kristeller, “Humanism and Scholasticism in the Italian Renaissance.” Hanna H. Gray, “Renaissance Humanism: The Pursuit of Eloquence.” Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier. Ramus, Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian. Bacon, The Advancement of Learning; Novum Organum. Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed by the Scriptures. Isaac Kramnick, The Portable Enlightenment Reader, Introduction. Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Austin, Chironomia. Campbell, The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. 21 Historical traces and contemporary rhetorics. READ: Stanley Fish, “Rhetoric.” REPORTS: Richard Weaver, The Ethics of Rhetoric and “Language is Sermonic.” Thomas Farrell, Norms of Rhetorical Culture. Ernesto Grassi, Rhetoric as Philosophy: The Humanist Tradition. Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives, A Grammar of Motives, and “Terministic Screens.” Chaïm Perelman & Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation. 28 Student presentations and wrap-up COMM 509: Classical Rhetorical Theory January 20, 2011

Topic: The epic poets and presocratics

Required Readings: Cahill, Chs. 1-3 Hesiod, The Creation & The Five Ages (in Auden) Sophocles, Zeus (in Auden) Heraclitus, The Word (in Auden) Parmenides, The Real (in Auden) Empedocles, Love & Strife (in Auden) Homer, The Epic Hero (in Auden) Pindar, The Athlete (Nemea 6 only) (in Auden)

Questions to Ponder: What is the nature of the universe? What is the nature of humanity? What is humanity's relationship to the gods? What is human life like? What are the key human virtues? vices?

Reports: None