The Book of the Courtier is a courtesy book or book of manners which dealt with issues of etiquette, behavior and morals, particularly at princely, or royal courts.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/107/The_Book_of_the_Courtier_by_Baldassare_Castiglione

If this is the case, what is rhetoric's relation to morality?

Similar to Muckelbaur's claim that in order to fully understand the possibilities of rhetoric, we need to disconnect, imagine it beyond the academic setting. (If I am understanding that correctly)

In the case of the weak and strong defense, does truth exist within rhetoric or outside of it?

"a field of semiotics and biology that studies the prelinguistic meaning-making, or production and interpretation of signs and codes in the biological realm"

Similarly stated on pg. 11 how images are just a representation of our conception: "Thus, with the cave art, a drawing of a bison is understood to be a representation of the artist’s conception of a bison."

Does culture shape rhetoric and vise versa?

Reminds me of Sarte's "What is Literature" and how writing prose is a way for the individual to feel essential to the world.

This reminds me of what Muckelbauer says when explaining that rhetoric might not have a definition. In this case, if writing takes a circular form, rhetoric can also lead to circuitous thinking.

I need some clarification here. What does Le Guin mean when taking about writing sci-fi in relation to a carrier of words and weapons?

Biologically women are carries in a way because of childbirth. So, it's interesting that women, in this text, are recognized as human only after they have invented some sort of cultural relevance, a carrier bag.

So, is the creation of putting something into a bag what marks the sign of a human? Or is it the creation of a weapon? Or both?

This needs some clarification for me. Is Muckelbauer saying that rhetoric is disconnected from academic fields?

Definition of phenomenology: is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view. The central structure of an experience is its intentionality, its being directed toward something, as it is an experience of or about some object

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/

Promiscuous: c. 1600, people or things, "mingled confusedly, grouped together without order, consisting of a disorderly mix; indiscriminate," from Latin promiscuus "mixed, indiscriminate, in common, without distinction

interesting and makes me feel more at ease about being unable to ever define it

Further supports Muckelbauer point as to why rhetoric is so difficult to precisely define. Because there are many possibilities, areas of study for rhetoric this understandably causes some hesitation when asked to define the word.