Talk:Bitzer, Lloyd "The Rhetorical Situation"
From RhetorClick
In his well-known and well-studied article, "The Rhetorical Situation," Lloyd F. Bitzer defines the rhetorical situation and examines the origins and purpose of rhetorical discourse. Bitzer begins his examination by highlighting some situations that are responsible for producing words that "suggest the presence of events, persons, or objects." He then makes the assertion that "rhetorical is situational." However, Bitzer reminds his readers that the word situation is not often associated with rhetorical theory and therefore the term "rhetorical situation" is cause for much confusion and controversy in the field. Nevertheless, Bitzer argues that the purpose of rhetoric is to "effect change," and subsequently there must be some sort of situation that brings the rhetoric into existence, for if rhetorical discourse is to change something, there must have first been something to change.
Bitzer offers a concise definition of a rhetorical situation as "a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence that invites utterance." From the primitive utterances of the Trobriand Island fishermen to the eloquence of the Gettysburg Address, Bitzer;s argument asserts that an exigence has brought about the rhetoric. Bitzer continues with a list of the implications that come with the statement that rhetoric is situational. He argues that (1) rhetorical discourse must be in response to a situation, (2) the situation lends rhetorical significance to speech, (3) the situation must be a condition of the discourse, (4) many rhetorical situations exist without leading to discourse, (5) a rhetorical situation requires discourse capable of altering the situation, (6) rhetorical discourse must seek to instigate change in a situation, and (7) the situation must control the response.
Bitzer's formal definition of the rhetorical situation: a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.
Elements of a rhetorical situation: exigence, audience, and constraints.
An exigence, as defined by Bitzer, is an "imperfection marked by urgency." The exigence must be something that is changeable, something that the rhetorical discourse can persuade the audience to alter. As for the audience, this is the most self-explanatory element of Bitzer's rhetorical situation. The audience is composed of those who are meant to receive the discourse, to act and to bring about the change that the rhetoric calls for. The constraints are all the elements of a situation that "have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence."
Further reading-
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~davis/crs/E398t/Bitzer--Rhetorical%20Situation.pdf
Opposition-
Richard E. Vatz
