Rhetorical Perspective

[Vershawn Ashanti Young]

To all:

I, too, have been silent for a while, although I read all correspondances. But
I would like to respond to CJ Jeney, who I think hit the the nail right on.
The mistake that is made is academic discussions and undertakings of rhetoric
is that individuals seem to extract the act of rhetoric from its user.
Rhetoric is an embodied phenomenon.  It cannot be understand outside of its
particular context, nor outside of the rhetor who employed the strategies that
compose the rhetorical discourse in question.  I assume, if not all, are
aquainted with Stanley Fish's article "Rhetoric."  I think Stanley misses the
mark when he talks about Satan and God and the debate concerning rhetoric.
Stanley doesn't take into account that rhetoric is a vehicle by which one
accomplishes a specified purpose.  In short, in doesn't take into account that
rhetoric is embodied and cannot be extracted or operationalized (as
traditional scientific research would have us do).  It has, and must, be
considered in context, which means the person who is the rhetor.

In this sense, rhetoric is always situational, attached to a culturally
specific context, and arises from a individual whose tastes, morals,
understandings, etc.  must be taken into account.

Thank you,

Vershawn Ashanti-Young
Ph.D. Candidate
English Literature
University of Illinois at Chicago