Rhetorical Perspective

[Vershawn Ashanti Young]

Seth and all:

I think that using Burk's dramatistic model is one appropriate way to get at
what you and others are talking about concerning rhetoric.  In addition I
would like to say that rhetoric is not an act--in results from the act and all
the other elements in the model.  Rhetoric in and of itself cannot be
operationalized, because it is something that is a result of several
components.   I will make an analogy, that I admit I haven't thought too long
about, that rhetoric is like a machine.  It is composed of several parts
combined to form the whole.  So rhetoric is a whole that is no longer the
thing itself if its parts are extracted.  Rhetoric is embodied in humans.  It
is what we are, not what we do.  It's how we think and feel.  It stems from
our experiences and perceptions.  It is something that we can modify to a
certain degree.  It is a practice situated within the context of lives.

Ok.  That's it.

Vershawn



In a message dated 2/4/99 9:52:55 AM Central Standard Time,
slkahneg at MAILBOX.SYR.EDU writes:

<< I realize a problem with the way I'm formulating my argument, from reading
 Vershawn's post.  When I suggest rhetoric-as-method, I don't mean to
 divorce it from its users or its purpose.  I only mean to isolate it in
 this way so we can talk about it as a concept.  Of course rhetoric doesn't
 just happen.

 Maybe putting it in Burkean terms would help (and again, I'm not entirely
 comfortable with these labels, but for convenience's sake...):
 Act--rhetoric
 Agent--writer/speaker/lawyer/ad exec/artist/etc
 Agency--writing/speech/legal brief/advertisement/painting,music, etc
 Scene--classroom/courtroom/workplace/mass media environment/etc
 Purpose--many...whatever the rhetor means to accomplish

 This formulation still suffers from the same problem that my others have,
 namely, that I'm still labelling rhetoric as AN ACT, and hence AN OBJECT.
 Perhaps that's what Vershawn is getting at.

 Seth

 Seth Kahn-Egan
 Syracuse University
 PhD Student in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
 slkahneg at mailbox.syr.edu
 315-423-8042 (home)
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