92 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2019
    1. I have made no distinction in what has been said between Speaking and Writing, because tho they are talenL'i which do not always meet, yet >"'1•""�� there is no material difference between 'cm.

      I think Ong would take issue with the notion that there is no "material difference" between speaking and writing. Writing is a "technology" so to speak, and thus presents itself differently than mere thought through speaking. One can go back and edit writing, whereas orality is not so easily done.

    2. If we argue falsly and know not that we do so, we s hall be more pillicd than when we do, but either way disappointed.

      Intent matters. Ignorance, though, can not be used as an excuse.

    3. docs not grow a little less concern'd for her Body that she may at­tenc.J her Mind

      Again, Gorgias' "craft" vs. "knack." One need not only direct attention toward surface-level endeavors (cosmetics), but must also pursue those endeavors geared at the pursuit of knowledge (gymnastics).

    4. You know very well 'tii-inlinitcly better lo be good than to .�eem so.�

      I'm immediately drawn the notion of a "craft" vs. "knack" in the "Gorgias." Whereas a craft is genuinely good and involves the pursuit of real knowledge, a knack merely imitates a craft as a surface-level endeavor.

    5. Astell suggests that the woman rhetor can best gain this favomblc ethos by leading a life that demonstrates her sincere com­mitment to Christianity,

      Prior or extrinsic credibility (based on experience and reputation), as opposed to demonstrated or intrinsic credibility (shown during speech itself).

    6. Most of Astell's discussion of rhetoric is devoted to style,

      Therefore, could we infer that Astell valued "style" as the most important of the five canons of rhetoric?

    7. If one's content is logical, it will be easy to remember.

      In this sense, can "logic" be at all subjective? By subjective I mean can the definition of logical different between individuals when organizing information? For example, I think it would be logical to organize my information chronologically, while someone else may think it is most logical to utilize a topical organizational pattern.

    8. rhetorical ability is mainly a natural endowment and that one should strive for clarity lo accommodate one's audience

      When preparing to speak publicly, the speaker's first consideration should always be the audience -- all other factors, including topic, should be a product influenced by the unanticipated audience.

    9. too individualistic, devoid of the community feeling

      This begins to take aim at the tension between individualism and collectivism, a "me vs. we" scenario with great implications in social society, as well as in the intellectual realm.

    10. I-laving developed one's rational powers, one could then read as extensively (or not) as one wished.

      This reminds me of Plato's "Chariot Allegory:" the notion that the charioteer (logic, reason) attempts to drive and control the two horses (rational and irrational) toward the truth.

    1. very ideas can not be communicated, nor conse­quently our meaning understood, without the right use of tones;

      Tones aid in understanding context connotations of conversations.

    2. sis. To the use of these tones is owing in a great measure concise­ness of discourse; and the necess

      Tone is crucial in conversation and public speaking. I think this is where the disconnect happens through texting, where tone is difficult to reveal, often leading others to misinterpret messages. I believe the invention of emojis was designed to combat this problem.

    3. he other hand, are not confined to their province, but often supply the place of words, as marks of ideas. Ami tho' the ease and distinctness with which our ideas are marked by articulate sounds, has ma

      Words and tones must work simultaneously. The use of words enhance tones, and using tones enhances words.

    4. he is at the same time, capable of becom+ ing a greater enemy,

      "For those who have been given more, more will be expected." Luke 12:48

    5. But still we both feel and undersrand the nature of all others

      Ok, question answered!

    6. The organs of hearing in each species, are tuned only to the sounds of their own;

      What about in the instance where an animal, such as a dog, makes sounds which humans interpret? For instance, I am thinking of a dog whining for more water if its dish is empty or growling at the sight of danger.

    7. they should feel much, and have a mutual sympathy, in whatc;ocvcr affects their fellow creatures.

      One purpose of speaking is to generate affective effects, meaning the feelings and emotions generated in listeners during a speech. Affective effects are equally as important as cognitive and behavioral effects.

    8. our ideas; and this is the utmost extent or their power. Did nothing pass in the mind of man, but ideas;

      As opposed to a sign (e.g. smoke is a sign of fire)

    9. public speaking as a form of conversation,

      Extemporaneous delivery would be beneficial in this sense, memorizing the crucial and main points rather than the speech word for word. This creates a conversational-style speech, rather than a rigid performance.

    1. notation

      This is like a coding schema!

    2. Gay

      Gay valued what is being referred to as "technical assurance," meaning that all uncertainty and self-doubt in performance was removed through this carefully thought out plan of delivery. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Gay-British-author

    3. llustrations will surficc for the purpose of convey­ing to the reader a toler

      Despite the premeditated nature of these movements, I am guessing they are performed in a way that seems inherently natural? Or are the movements meant to look mechanical?

    4. �.eni.c.,e(

      Seemingly almost robotic?

    5. the delivery or a speech

      As opposed to Astell's focus on style, could it be argued that Austin most values delivery (performance) of the five canons of rhetoric?

    1. Blair lceds the popular desire for rules of taste, guidelines for writing and speaking, and well-digested, if not predigested, samples of proper liter• ature.

      Word choice! That is, making such literature easier to absorb and understand (digest).

    2. correctness in pronunciation. as in diction and usage. is not an absolute. Language standards arc the property of the ruling class; thus the diction, usage. and pronuncia• lion of the power centers of capital cities tend to be the standards for a national Ian· guagc.

      This division of pronunciation and usage is particularly visible in terms of class. Mispronounced words are often frowned upon, but all this means is that the person learned this word by reading, rather than having the opportunity of hearing someone say it first.

    3. self-evident truths by careful division,

      This reminds me of Siegert's notion of creating barriers and categories ("cuts").

    4. elocution

      More specifically, meaning: "the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone."

    5. rhetoric came under attack

      I think it could be argued that rhetoric continues to be under attack today. The term "rhetoric" often carries a negative connotation, as can be seen recently through popularized terms such as "political rhetoric" or "media rhetoric." Many people throw around the term rhetoric without knowing what they are saying or referring to.

    1. But the greatest drawback of our educational methods is that we pay an excessive amount of altention to the natural sciences and not enough to ethics.

      How would society be different if we paid more attention to ethics as opposed to the natural sciences? What would an ethics-oriented society look like?

    2. Speech and thought arc inseparable, in Vico'., view: They evolve together.

      Is this in terms of the individual or a communal/societal sense? Or both? I took it to mean both on the individual and societal levels, but I want to make sure I am interpreting this correctly.

    3. Once society is shattered, however, the process begins anew.

      Very interesting to think about -- this notion that the end of something, its ruin, may not actually be an end after all, but rather a beginning. Wow.

    4. dialogue fertilizes thought

      Word choice! Therefore, dialogue enriches thought, adding to its development.

    1. Compendious,

      Meaning: "containing or presenting the essential facts of something in a comprehensive but concise way"

    2. I Know not how to Please All, t

      The innate desire to please everyone hinders the progression of knowledge. Making this realization in the first sentence is remarkably important, for it immediately opens the door to discovery.

    3. there being a Large Market-place, you may stand or sit with Ease and hear the Orations that are there Spoken

      The marketplace of ideas! This free flow of ideas nurtured democracy in ancient Greece, specifically in the "Agora," the center of the city-state of Athens.

    4. speak to Illustrate my Own VVorks, and to Detract from the VVorks of Others, for upon my Conscience I Speak and VVrite as I Believe, and if I Commit an Error in this Belief, I ask your Pardon

      We write and speak in only the ways we know how -- as ourselves. The fear of error should not prevent the process of discovery from unfolding.

    5. She was the first woman to attend a meeting atRoyal Society of London

      Go ahead, Margaret! Boom.

    1. A good palate is not tried '.j by strong flavours; but by a mixture of small in-0 gredients, where we are till sensible of each :J._ part, notwithstanding its minuteness and its con­\..., fusion with the rest. I

      Quality over quantity!

    2. o far only as it is beneficial {l,16�(' or hurtful to the true believers.

      By nature, humans are selfish. We're always thinking, whether consciously or not, "what's in it for me?" We deem actions that have a potential benefit to us as praiseworthy, while label unbeneficial actions as hurtful.

    3. !..�P'�r\0CA \= e,;4 ��'-"-'

      Could empirical data made up of experiences present in the form of an ethnography? Or autoethnography? I'm not sure if this is what you were getting at here, but it is a thought that came to mind!

    4. }-lume who seeks to understand the operations of mind.

      In this sense, the mind is a machine, which operates in order to produce a certain product. What is this product? Knowledge? Can the product differ between people and instances?

    1. He that has complex ideas, without particular names for them, would be in no better case than a bookseller, who had in his warehouse volumes that lay there unbound, and without titles, which he could therefore make known to others only by showing the loose sheets, and communicate them only by tale.

      Part of demonstrating knowledge has to do with the organization of thoughts. What good does it do if one's thoughts remain undeveloped and in disarray? The goal should be to not only generate knowledge, but to translate this knowledge in an organized and accessible form.

    2. Without this, men fill one another's heads with noise and sounds;

      Alluding to the Transactional Model of Communication, noise can external (e.g. words, sounds) or internal (e.g. anxiety, distraction). Noise is a barrier to clear communication, which in this sense, inhibits the progression of knowledge.

    3. Vico, Sheridan, and Campbell, as well as a number of philosophers, pursued Locke's suggestive but incomplete account of the relation-ship of language and knowledge, though never far enough to link rhetoric explicitly with the process of creating "true" knowledge. T

      We stand on the shoulders of academics who have come before us. Although Locke's work may have been "incomplete" or a starting point, his work initiated this pursuit and paved the way for future scholars.

    4. Locke believes that there b a real external world and that knowledge of it is pos!-iblc. hul only ii' we underst:md the processes by which we come lo ~uch knowledge.

      Knowledge is the goal, the end, but the process by which knowledge is discovered, the means, is also important to Locke.

  2. Jan 2019
    1. posthumanism poses intriguing questions to many longstanding,“self-evident” assumptions about rhetoric and communication

      This statement really encapsulates why I am so enjoying the topic of posthumanism from a communication perspective! Challenging "self-evident" assumptions, especially in communication, will allow the field to progress forward.

    2. omposition and hacking are alreadyclose allies

      A striking statement/juxtaposition in a way -- interesting to think of these two concepts as "allies." However, sometimes things that are most unlike each other work the best together.

    3. “What, precisely, is thegoal of the game that we’re playing now?” In

      Humans are goal-driven beings. Goals are essentially cognitive processes that shape our behavior.

    4. parasitic inhabitation

      Word choice! Suggests eating away or destructive nature. Very interesting.

    5. Each article therefore offers anddeploys a series of tools for encountering and producing posthumanrhetorics

      Herein lies the problem, most notably with the notion of "tools." Issues arise not because of the process by which one tries to complete the task, but rather, through the use of inappropriate tools for the job.The job at hand is to "produce postman rhetorics." This job can be likened to any other sort of carpentry job, say building a bookshelf. If one decides to use a screwdriver to nail into a board, the end product and process will not be as fulfilling. Will the job get done? Probably. Will it produce the same quality as using a hammer would? Probably not. The same can be said when producing posthuman rhetorics: we must find the correct tools to use in order to produce the best work.

    6. n actor and sta

      Alluding to Erving Goffman, humans are actors constantly performing on the stage of life. This begs the question as to whether post-humanism would occupy the "front stage, "back stage," or even "off stage?"

    1. thnographicobservations

      Communication scholars have more recently begun to highlight enthnographies and autoethnographies in research.

    2. intellectually lazy

      Word choice! What does it mean to be "intellectually lazy"? I think a great example of this can be seen when we talked last class about note taking and how taking notes should be a continual process, one which you constantly refer to and add to your notes, as opposed to taking notes and not looking at them again until you need something.

    3. My argument is that today the critical posthumanities are emergingas post-disciplinary discursive fronts not only around the edges ofthe classical disciplines but also as o

      What if we view the posthumanities as it's own evolutionary process? Much like the "Dawn of Humanity" film explained with human evolution, the posthumanities could be seen as evolving as a braided stream alongside the classical disciplines.

    4. posthuman’ is normatively neutral and itdoes not automatically point to the end of the species

      Posthumanism must not be seen as an end, but rather as a beginning. "Post" implies that there was a before -- it is up to us to explain just how we arrived at posthumanism. Dr. Rivers gave the example in last week's class of a math teacher asking students to show their work--how did you arrive at that answer?

    5. Knowledge-production

      Reminds me of the Gorgias "craft" vs "knack" distinction. A craft continually pursues knowledge, whereas a knack simply imitates a craft and is mere routine.

    1. ausal relationship

      Is it true that post humanism takes issue with the cause and effect pattern? In the sense that these two things are separate entities? (Referring to Burke's belief that we are naturally divided from other people)

    2. Dissatisfaction surfaces

      "Dissatisfaction" is crucial in education. It allows disciplines to not remain stagnant and content. Questioning concepts and beliefs leads to growth.

    3. Onto-epistem-ology—the study of practices of knowing in be-ing

      Furthering this definition, the concepts of knowing and being intersect here, along with the ever-present ethical component.

    4. Similarly, “momentum” is only meaningful as a materialarrangement involving movable parts.

      We are who/what we are in relation to others as a collective entity. I appreciate the"momentum" phrase -- suggests this constant driving force of moving forward.

    5. power of words to represent preexistingthings

      Sign vs. Symbol distinction -- crucial in understanding language.

    1. real, ‘natural’ order

      How does interpretation of the natural order differ depending on one's paradigm?

    2. I

      Again, as in the example of the math teacher, students must show their work as to how they came to an answer. One doesn't just arrive at an answer. It is a process.

    3. Cultural techniques – such as writing, reading, painting, counting,making music – are always older than the concepts that are gener-ated from them.

      Therefore, thought is older than language.

    4. technophobia

      I have technophobia with hypothesis... I'm still learning!

    5. ybernetics

      Meaning: "the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things."

    1. Ammgeme/11.

      Commonly referred to as "disposition."

    2. hrw:111im1

      Topic selection

    3. Classical rhetoric divides the process of preparing a persuasive speech in10 five stages: I. Invention, the search for persuasive ways to present infonnation and formulate arguments2. Arrangement, the organization of the parts of a speech to ensure that all themeans of persuasion are present and properly disposed3. Style, the use of correct, appropriate, and striking language throughout thespeech4. Memory, 1he use of mnemonics and practice of tht;! speech5.Delivery, the use of effective gestures and vocal modulation to present thespeech

      The Five Canons of Rhetoric!

    4. Rhetoric has a number of overlapping meanings

      Connecting to Rickert's claim involving the interwoven/entangled notion of culture in terms of rhetoric.

    1. it also constitutes a certain way of manifesting oneself to oneself and to others.

      At the core of communication is the inherent need for connection.

    2. We must digest it: otherwise it will merely enter the memory and not the reasoning power

      How might one go about this process of digestion? I'm particularly intrigued by the word choice of "digest," which seems to suggest energy/knowledge conversion.

    3. they are not meant to be substituted for a recollection that may fail. They constitute, rather, a material and a framework for exercises to be carried out frequently: reading, rereading, meditating, conversing with oneself and with others.

      Looking at one's academic notes in this sense, what if students were taught from a young age to view their notes and note taking as a continuous process which required frequent study and conversation? Even in college, students often only refer to notes as a means of remembering a specific fact, statement or concept.

    4. No technique, no professional skill can be acquired without exercise; nor can the art of living, the technê tou biou, be learned without askesis that should be understood as a training of the self by oneself.

      Like any other skill, living "well," which differs depending on the person, requires lived experience. It involves navigating life through achievements and failures through which skills are acquired.

    1. wonderful, poisonous

      Striking juxtaposition here... "wonderful" and "poisonous"

    2. The skillful hunters then would come staggering back with a load of meat, a lot of ivory, and a story.

      This makes me think of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk: "The danger of a single story." Rather than solely focusing on the single story aspect, Adichie delves into the topic of storytelling and the subsequent power associated with it. In this sense, the discussion of power alludes to Foucault's extensive work on power.

      https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript?language=en

    1. n otherwords, even if rhetoric is the art of never finally answering the question, "Whatis rhetoric?" this art would necessarily include all attempts to finally answer thatquestion.

      Based on this statement, could it be inferred that Muckelbauer places importance on not only the answer to the question (end) but also the process by which that answer is sought (means)? If so, how might the process of discovery be as important as the discovery itself?

    1. Still, to focus only on this social evolutionary aspect misses less familiar forms of rhet-oricity.

      It is crucial to not approach topics with too narrow of a perspective. Considering other elements and points of view make for a more well-rounded individual and argument. When thinking of current political issues plaguing the United States, what might be an instance where broadening perspective would be beneficial?

    2. There is a profound disorientation.

      Immediately reminds me of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave."

    3. rhetoric drinks

      This phrase made me envision almost a "taste-testing" scenario -- sample different possibilities and determine which ones are worthwhile.

    4. psychagogic force

      "Attractive, inspiring, persuasive"

      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychagogic

    5. coalesce

      "Combine" or "come together," forming parts of a whole.

    6. entanglement of culture with environments and things

      How might the "entanglement of culture" influence the definition of rhetoric? This interwoven nature calls for further examination.

    1. childhood whose playfulness can in turn be a blessing to society

      This reminds me of C. S. Lewis' appreciation of the child. Lewis believed children should be taken seriously and there is much to learn from a child's perspective. These beliefs were reflected in his works.

    2. McCloskey is attempting, that is, to correct an imbalance that he sees

      As human beings, we naturally seek a sense of equilibrium.

    3. the perpetual frontstage/backstage oscillation of human attention,

      "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" Erving Goffman!

    4. Philosophy and rhetoric, taken as the two great opposites of the Western cultural conversation, can be harmonized

      When thinking of music, it often occurs that the paring of two chords that do not traditionally create harmony (philosophy and rhetoric) may create beautiful sounds through dissonance.

    5. This central focus meant that the arcs were perpetually shifting position and overlapping one another. Such shifting is what Ramus hated the most: "For arts ought to consist of subjects that are constant, perpetual, and unchanging, and they should consider only those concepts which Plato says are archetypal and eternal" (99).

      Although uniformity within a discipline can be beneficial, "shifting" and "overlapping" combat stagnation. Without this constant movement, would disciplines be able to grow and develop?

    6. Much as we want to evade it, however, the "Q" question ls coming after · us these days. It presses on us in the university, for the university is like the law courts: it cannot dodge the "Q" question.

      Here, an identifiable exigence, an imperfection marked by urgency (Bitzer), surfaces, which provides warrant for further examination and potential action.

    7. why so many commentators have thought Cicero's De oratore, which does con-front the issue from time to time, so much more one-sided an argument than it is.

      Aristotle's definition of rhetoric likens the notion of public speaking to persuasion. When addressing an issue of concern, using all available means of persuasion at one's disposal aids in constructing a sound argument.

    8. Turned language, man's best friend, into a potential enemy?

      What might language look like if it is indeed an enemy? Would it be different for each individual or uniformly evil?