Theories and Movements

From RhetorClick

This page discusses key rhetorical movements and the theories associated with those movements.

Contents 1 Belletristic/Elocution 2 Semiotics 3 Conservatism 4 Feminist Criticism 5 Literary Criticism 6 New Rhetorics 7 Rogerian Rhetoric 8 Post-Structuralism 9 Pedagogical Studies 10 Writing and Technology 11 Uncategorized

Belletristic/Elocution

Semiotics

Ferdinand de Saussure, 1857-1913: signified and signifier are core of semiotics

Roland Barthes, 1915-1980: author and scriptor, neutral and novelistic writing

Mikhail Bakhtin, 1895-1975: Polyphony, Unfinalizability, Carnival and Grotesque, Chronotope, Heteroglossia ("The Dialogic Imagination"), Speech genres

Conservatism

Richard Weaver, 1910-1963: man's nature is fourfold (rational, emotional, ethical, religious), God and Devil Terms, Noble Rhetoric, Anti-Nominalism

Feminist Criticism

Celeste Condit, author of "Post-Burke: Transcending the Sub-Stance of Dramatism" (1992).

Phyllis M. Japp, author of “Can This Marriage Be Saved? Reclaiming Burke for Feminist Scholarship" from Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century (1999).

Literary Criticism

I. A. Richards, 1893-1979: father of New Criticism

New Rhetorics

Donald C. Bryant, 1905-1987: definitions of rhetoric

Kenneth Burke, 1897-1993: Dramatistic Pentad (act, scene, agent, agency, purpose), Definition of Man as symbol-using animal

Chaim Perelman, 1912-1984: New Rhetorics

Rogerian Rhetoric

Rogerian rhetoric is derived from the theories of Carl Rogers. Rogers originally developed his ideas as a method of therapy that was centered around understanding the person being treated. Initially called non-directive therapy, this system became the foundation for Rogers' broader ideas of the self and learning. These ideas have been applied across disciplines, heavily influencing one branch of rhetorical studies.

Rogerian rhetoric then, is the idea that persuasion is most effective when the positions on all side of the argument are understood, and a connection is made between the people involved. Terms such as non-combative and person-centered are some of the theory's watch-words.

Rogerian rhetoric typically consists of 4 main stages:

1. An introduction to the problem and a demonstration that the opponent's position is understood.
2. A statement of the contexts in which the opponent's position may be valid.
3. A statement of the writer's position, including the contexts in which it is valid.
4. A statement of how the opponent's position would benefit if he were to adopt elements of the writer's position. If the writer can show that the positions complement each other, that each supplies what the other lacks, so much the better (Brent)

Jim W. Corder, 1929-1998: argument as emergence toward the other

Douglas Brent: Rogerian Rhetoric as an alternative to Traditional Rhetoric

Post-Structuralism

Michel Foucault, 1926-1984: author-function

Pedagogical Studies

Lisa S. Ede, b. 1947: Distinctions Between Classical and Modern Rhetoric

Andrea A. Lunsford, b. 1942: Distinctions Between Classical and Modern Rhetoric

Writing and Technology

Cynthia L. Selfe: Influential Role in "Computers in the Composition Classroom"

Richard J. Selfe Jr.: Computer Interface as Representation of Oppression of Diverse Cultures

Dennis Baron, b. 1944:

Uncategorized

Stephen Toulmin, 1922-2009: Toulmin Model of Argument

Robert L. Scott, b. 1928: Epistemic Rhetoric

Richard Ohmann, b. 1931:

S. Michael Halloran, b. 1939: Rhetoric in Existentialist Literature

John M. Slatin:

Kathleen Blake Yancey:

Johndan Johnson-Eilola:

John Logie:

Sean D. Williams:

Steven Fraiberg:

Sorapure et al.?

Palmquist et al.?

Bill Hart-Davidson and Steven D. Krause:

Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle:

?: Semanticism