Rhetoric 24: Rhetoric as a Liberal Art
Professor Hariman
Fall Semester 1999
Texts:
Assignments: The course includes lectures, discussions, small group exercises, five short papers, and two examinations, all focused on the assigned readings. I expect you to attend all classes.
Grading:
The graded assignments follow the conventional A-F system. An "A" denotes work outstanding relative to the basic course requirements, a "B" denotes work significantly above the basic course requirements, a "C" denotes work that meets the basic course requirements in every respect, and a "D" denotes work that does not meet the basic requirements but is worthy of credit. A "CR" grade for the alternative system denotes work that is at least of "C" quality.
I will grant an Incomplete (I) if the student suffers a medical or familial emergency, requests the grade, and agrees to a plan for completing the course. I do not expect plagiarism but if I have reason to believe it has occurred I will follow the University's policy for prosecution.
Miscellaneous:
I am available by appointment if you cannot use my posted office hours (TTh 1-2:15; WF 2-3). My office is Medbury 105, my phone number is 271-2840, and my e-mail address is robert.hariman@drake.edu. I check phone and computer mail regularly and will reply as promptly as I can. You also can leave a message with the department secretary at 271-2874.
"To put it in a single word, I would say that our subject is rhetoric, if by that is meant the study of the ways in which character and community--and motive, value, reason, social structure, everything, in short, that makes a culture--are defined and made real in performances of language" (James Boyd White, When Words Lose their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community, pp. x-xi).
"The history of liberal education is the story of a debate between orators and philosophers" (Bruce A. Kimball, Orators and Philosophers: A History of the Idea of Liberal Education, p. 2).
Schedule:
Papers:
Each of your five papers for this course will be a reasoned response to a question or other task that I will provide. You always will be able to choose the particular problem from among a set of alternatives. Your response should be clear, cogent, and brief: If you cannot state your position clearly in 2-4 pages, you probably need to rethink and rewrite it. Of course, I always am willing to work with longer essays, whether they are the result of erudition, inspiration, obsession, late-night madness, or other extreme conditions, but neither length nor the signs of extremity are intrinsically valuable.
Each assignment is intended to encourage careful thinking about the topics and texts of the course. As you present your analysis, you should discuss the relevant course texts directly--particularly the assigned readings, although the lectures and group exercises also are fair game. You also are welcome to refer to other texts and experiences as long as they are introduced adequately; a succinct description of their content and significance should do (e.g., don't assume that I am familiar with your favorite music or that I can see why Federalist # 10 is important). I am interested in both how you understand our common material and how you are weaving your work in this course together with your other learning to better understand the world.
Each paper should have a title suggesting your basic problem, idea, or theme. You also should follow an appropriate pattern of development. You might write a conventional essay that identifies a problem, proposes a thesis toward the resolution of that problem, offers a series of arguments in support of that thesis, and concludes by addressing the question of action. You might write a more narrative account that follows a character through a series of actions leading to a crisis and resolution (e.g., you as you are trying to understand Backman while going about your day). You might write a systematic textual commentary that works through a text paragraph by paragraph or line by line to develop an interpretation of the whole. You might identify a communicative event (e.g., a Senate debate or a family quarrel) and analyze that event using concepts discussed in the course. You might write a series of aphorisms that provoke a radical break with conventional wisdom and a new program of inquiry. In any case, the essay should be your best effort to argue about and understand some important set of ideas regarding the role of communication in contemporary life.
The formatting of the paper should include: no title page; one-inch margins; double-spaced; page numbers in the upper right corner; 12-point font (I recommend Palatino for laser printing). Use parenthetical citation and, if referring to texts from outside the course, a bibliography.