Rhetoric and Informal Logic
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UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR Department of Philosophy Philosophy 561 Rhetoric and Informal Logic Chris Tindale Fall 2015 Chrysler Hall North 2183 M : 7:00-9:50 [email protected] CHN 2193 Office Hours: Wednesday Afternoon. Course description: The relationship between rhetoric and logic is fraught with tension, in spite of their once companionable places (along with grammar) in the trivium of the mediaeval university. Rhetoric is often dismissed as mere adornment to the substance of logic. In the early stages of the revolution in logic that gave birth to informal logic a similar disregard of rhetoric persisted. But that attitude has more recently been revised as informal logicians have entered into fruitful dialogues with contemporary rhetoricians. Still, there is a sense that rhetorical concerns can remain an afterthought for the logician, and the serious question needs still to be asked about the role that rhetoric can and should play in the development of informal modes of reasoning. In this course, we will ask that question, exploring the nature of ancient and contemporary rhetoric, the emergence of informal logic, and the ways in which the interests of the two can be seen to converge. Course Structure: The course will be conducted as a seminar/discussion. Members of the class will be expected to have read the material each week and be prepared to engage in discussion. Required Texts: All readings are listed week by week in the syllabus, and will be made available in the department, online, or through the reserve desk at the library. Requirements: 1. Two short papers responding to specific questions that arise in the first half of the term, worth 20% in each case, for a total of 40%. Questions are provided from September 21 to October 19. Choose two. 2. Class-preparedness and participation: 10%. Students should be prepared to engage in discussions. 3. A major paper will be due by November 30 (3:30). This can be written in drafts throughout the latter part of the course. Length and nature of the paper will depend on the topic chosen, which will arise from discussions with the instructor. The paper is worth 50% of the course grade. 1 Class Schedule: September: 14: Introduction to the course: What is Rhetoric? Reading: Wayne Booth “The Rhetorical Stance”; Lloyd Bitzer “The Rhetorical Situation”; Jennifer Richards (Rhetoric, Introduction) 21: Aristotle’s Gaze Reading: Aristotle, Rhetoric Book One, Chapters 2-15 (Kennedy translation) Library Reserve; Myles Burnyeat “Enthymeme: Aristotle on the Rationality of Rhetoric” Question: To what degree do logos, pathos, and ethos capture important features of the rhetorical situation? 28: Rhetoric Now Reading: Chaim Perelman, Realm of Rhetoric, Chapters 1-4, Library Reserve; Jeanne Fahnestock, “Rhetoric in the Age of Cognitive Science” Question: Does Perelman’s attention to the importance of audience involve a substantial shift from the treatment provided by Aristotle? October: 5: Rhetoric as a Humanistic Endeavor Reading: Ernesto Grassi, “Rhetoric and Philosophy”; Michael Leff, “Rhetoric and Dialectic in the Twentieth Century”; Steve Mailloux, “Humanist Controversies.” Question(s): Aristotle judged dialectic and rhetoric to be complementary. How does Leff understand this relationship? Is his understanding of rhetoric consistent with those of people like Perelman and Bitzer? 12: THANKSGIVING 19: The Varieties of Informal Logic Reading: Ralph Johnson, “Some Reflections on the Informal Logic Initiative”; Tony Blair, “Informal Logic and Logic.” Question: Drawing on the accounts provided by Blair and Johnson, what do you judge to be the crucial, distinguishing features of informal logic, and why? 26: The Nature of Argument Reading: Terence Parsons, “What is an Argument?” Geoff Goddu, “Is ‘Argument’ Subject to the Product/Process Ambiguity?” November: 2: The Problem of Argumentation Schemes 2 Reading: Doug Walton and Chris Reed, “Argumentation Schemes and Defeasible Inferences”; Tony Blair, “Walton’s Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning: A Critique and Development.” 9: Informal Logic and the Role of Rhetoric: The Critical Reaction Reading: Trudy Govier, “When They Can’t Talk Back: The Noninteractive Audience and the Theory of Argument”; Ralph Johnson, “The Blaze of Her Splendors: Suggestions about Revitalizing Fallacy Theory.” 16: The Problem of Standards: Where do they arise? Reading: Stephen Toulmin, The Uses of Argument, Chapter 1 (available online through the library); Frans van Eemeren, Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentative Discourse, Chapter 2, Library Reserve; Chris Tindale, “On Cognitive Environments.” 23: Rhetorical themes: Ambiguities (the nature of language). Reading: Wayne Booth, “Metaphor as Rhetoric”; William Irwin, “What is an Illusion?” 30: Images and Narratives Reading: Georges Roque, “Should Visual Arguments be Propositional in Order to be Arguments?”; Paula Olmos, “Narration as Argument.” [Course Evaluations] December 7: Extending Evaluation Select Bibliography Aristotle (2007) On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. 2nd edition. George A. Kennedy (Trans. Introduction, Notes, & Appendices), Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bitzer, L. (1968) “The Rhetorical Situation,” Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1:1-14. Blair, J.A. (2009) “Informal Logic and Logic.” Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 16 (29): 47-67. Blair, J.A. (2001) “Walton’s Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning: A Critique and Development.” Argumentation (15):365-79. Booth, W. (1970) “The Rhetorical Stance” in Now Don’t Try to Reason with Me. Chicago University Press. Booth, W. “Metaphor as Rhetoric: The Problem of Evaluation,” Critical Inquiry 5 (1):49- 72. Burnyeat, M. (1996) “Enthymeme: Aristotle on the Rationality of Rhetoric” in Essay on Aristotle’s Rhetoric,” A.O. Rorty (Ed.). University of Chicago Press:88-115. Eemeren, F. H. van (2010) Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentative Discourse, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Fahnestock, J. (2005) “Rhetoric in the Age of Cognitive Science”. The Viability of Rhetoric. Graff, Richard. ed. New York: State University of New York Press. Goddu, G. (2011) “Is ‘Argument’ Subject to the Product/Process Ambiguity?” Informal Logic 31 (2):75-88. 3 Govier, T. & L. Ayers (2012) “Logic, Parables, and Argument” Informal Logic. 32(2):161-189. Govier, T. (1999) “When They Can’t Talk Back: The Noninteractive Audience and the Theory of Argument,” in The Philosophy of Argument. Vale Press:183-201. Grassi, E. (1980) “Rhetoric and Philosophy,” in Philosophy as Rhetoric: The Humanist Tradition. University Park: Penn State University Press:18-34. Groarke, L. (2011) “Informal Logic.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-informal/. Hamblin, (1970) Fallacies. Newport News, VA: Vale Press. Irwin, W. (2001) “What is an Illusion?” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 59 (3):287-297. Johnson, R. (2009) “Some Reflections on the Informal Logic Initiative” Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 16 (29): 17-46. Johnson, R. (1987) “The Blaze of Her Splendors: Suggestions about Revitalizing Fallacy Theory.” Argumentation (1):239-53. Johnson, R., and J. A. Blair (1987) “The Current State of Informal Logic.” Informal Logic 9: 147-151. Kvernbekk, T. (2003) “Narratives as Informal Arguments,” IL@25. Windsor:OSSA, CD Rom. Pp.1-11. Leff, M. (2000) “Rhetoric and Dialectic in the Twentieth Century” Argumentation (14):241-54. Mailloux, S. (2012) “Humanist Controversies: The Rhetorical Humanism of Ernesto Grassi and Michael Leff,” Philosophy and Rhetoric, 45 (2):134-47. O’Keefe, D. (1977) “Two Concepts of Argument.” JAFA: Journal of the American Forensic Association 13: 121-128. Olmos, P. (2013) “Narration as Argument,” OSSA Conference Archive. Paper 123. http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ossaarchive/OSSA10/papersandcommentaries/123 Parsons, T. (1996) “What is an Argument?” The Journal of Philosophy 93:164-85. Perelman, Ch. (1982) The Realm of Rhetoric. University of Notre Dame Press. Perelman, Ch., and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969) The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, trans. J. Wilkinson and P. Weaver. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Pinto, R & H. Hansen (1995) Fallacies. Penn State. Richards, J. (2008) Rhetoric, Routledge. Richards, I.A. (1936). The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Oxford. Roque, G. “Should Visual Arguments be Propositional in Order to be Arguments?”; Argumentation Tindale, C. (2015) “On Cognitive Environments,” Toulmin, S. (1958) The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press. Walton, D. (1995) A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy. Alabama. Walton, D., and C. Reed, “Argumentation Schemes and Defeasible Inferences” 4 .