Schedule for ENGL 6/7510 — HISTORY OF RHETORIC: EARLY-MODERN TO CONTEMPORARY
(Fall 2015)

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"Rhetoric is concerned with the state of Babel after the Fall." – Kenneth Burke

This is the gateway page for my fall 2015 graduate seminar, History of Rhetoric: Early-Modern to Contemporary. Below, you will find the weekly schedule, including information about the availability of readings. The navigation box on the left can be used to select a particular week on this page or a separate syllabus page (with a description of the class and requirements). In addition to the syllabus and this schedule, there are separate pages for each session, which you can access by clicking on individual "Session" titles.

BOOKS & OTHER READINGS - AVAILABILITY & ABBREVIATIONS

We will be using three books, which I've ordered through the campus bookstore; in addition, they are available for two-hour checkout from Walker Library's "Reserve" desk.

Many of our readings are not contained in these books; instead, they will be available online or as photocopies. Most of the online readings are available to us via Walker Library's subscriptions to two databases:

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

This version of the schedule is intended to provide a quick look at the list of readings for each of our sessions. More information on each reading is available on the individual "Session" pages. For example, click the "SESSION 1" heading to go a page with more information on that session.

SESSION 1 (Aug 25) - INTRODUCTION: A REVIEW OF CLASSICAL RHETORIC

Although ENGL 6/7510 surveys the history of rhetoric from the early-modern period to the present, we will use the first session to orient ourselves by examining a contemporary dispute regarding the nature of rhetoric and its application in the study of literature. (More . . .)

Readings

Additional Readings

Chapters from Burke's Counter-Statement cited by Howell (available from Walker reserve; also, contact me for online access):
Burke's Symposium Paper:
Secondary:

For more information on this set of readings, see "Introduction to the Burke-Howell Exchange".

LABOR-DAY HOLIDAY (Sep 05)

SESSION 2 (Sep 07): Rhetoric on the Eve of Modernity: Montaigne & Bacon

Having used our first session to get acquainted with the interests and concerns that shape the contemporary study of rhetoric, we now turn to our first set of historical readings and to the basic historiographical problem of our seminar -- the question of "modernity." The historical range of our class begins with the period of time that many contemporary historians now characterize as "early modernity"; so we will want to acquire some understanding of what is meant by "early modernity" in order to examine how rhetorical theories functioned within this context. As an introduction to the study of "modernity" we will read Stephen Toulmin's "What Is the Problem about Modernity?" the opening chapter of his Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (1990). We will then turn to the work of two intellectuals who are often associated with "early modernity" -- Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon. I find the juxtaposition of these two thinkers especially interesting in that both are critical of the rhetorical education of their time while devising new genres of prose that represent contrasting modes of experience: the experience of one's self (the personal essay) and the experience of the natural world (empirically-based scientific prose). (More . . .)

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 3 (Sep 14): Rhetoric and Truth in the Wake of Descartes

As we saw in Toulmin's "What Is the Problem About Modernity?" René Descartes' philosophy is regarded widely as pivotal, not only in the development of modern philosophy but, more generally, in the development of the modern epoch. Nevertheless, the impact of Cartesian thought on seventeenth-century rhetorical theory and rhetorical education has received little attention by English-speaking historians. This lack of attention is reflected by our anthology, which contains no representatives of seventeenth-century French rhetorical theory and education. Hence, in order to acquire some understanding of how rhetorical theory was influenced by Cartesianism, our third session is devoted to Descartes and some major essays and treatises in rhetorical theory written in the wake of Cartesianism: (I) an "literary" introduction to Descartes' Discourse on the Method, (II) excerpts from the enormously influential Port-Royal Logic by Arnauld and Nicole, (III) Pascal's "The Art of Persuasion," and (IV) excerpts from Lamy's treatise, The Art of Speaking. In addition to the primary texts, I have selected some scholarly articles/chapters to guide us. More . . .

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 4 (Sep 21): Rhetorical Antimodernism: Vico

Now that we have some background in Cartesianism and its influence on 17th-century rhetorical theory and education, we move to an important reaction to Cartesianism, especially to the rejection of "topical" invention that we saw most forcefully stated in the Port-Royal Logic of Arnauld and Nicole. This is the reaction of Giambattista Vico, who taught rhetoric at the Royal University of Naples beginning in 1699 until his retirement in 1741. Vico is typically remembered for his Scienza Nuova (1725) and its influence on Goethe, Rousseau, Coleridge, Marx, and James Joyce among others, especially its fundamental claim: verum ipsum factum, or "the true is what is made." We will be reading excerpts from his 1708 commencement address, De nostri temporis studiorum ratione (On the Study Methods of Our Time), in which advocates rhetorical education over the influence of Cartesianism in the university curriculum. I will also use this opportunity to talk a bit about the shortcomings of using translations, since the translation contained in our anthology contains some misleading errors. More . . .

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 5 (Sep 28): Empiricism and Its Discontents: Locke, Astell, Hume

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 6 (Oct 05): Rhetoric and the British Enlightenment: Sheridan, Austin, Campbell, Blair,

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 7 (Oct 12): In the Wake of the Enlightenment: Romanticism & the Emergence of Modern University

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

[Fall Break, Oct 17-20]

SESSION 8 (Oct 19): The Development of Rhetorical Education in 19th-Century North America

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 9 (Oct 26): Rhetoric and the Philosophical Turn toward Language: Nietzsche, Peirce, and Richards

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 10 (Nov 02): Rhetoric and a Theory of Human Relations: Burke

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

SESSION 11 (Nov 09): Rhetoric as Practical Reasoning: McKeon, Perelman, Toulmin, Scott

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 12 (Nov 16): Rhetoric and Philosophical Hermeneutics: Gadamer, Ricoeur, & Vattimo

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 13 (Nov 23): Rhetoric and the Poststructuralist Critique of the Human Sciences: Foucault, Derrida, Cixous, Gates

Required - Primary

Required - Secondary

Recommended

SESSION 14 (Nov 30): Visual and New Media Rhetorics

Required - Primary

SESSION 15 (Dec 07): Conclusion

Last update: 8/15/11

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Dr. James N. Comas (James.Comas@mtsu.edu)
Middle Tennessee State University
English Dept., Box 70
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
615-898-2606

Some pages on this site contain material from my classes taught in The Department of English at Middle Tennessee State University.

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