Today in class we will:
- Invest some time in moving content into the new reading notes Google Doc
- Discuss the Superbowl ads
- Discuss the strong defense of rhetoric
Reading Grid
I emailed out a new grid prior to class. I would like to move all information out of the old grid and into the new grid.
Super Bowl Ads
Let’s talk about how some of the language/terms/ideas/methods we have examined might have shown up in the Super Bowl ads.
Lanham, Grassi, and the Strong Defense
I want to open the conversation by thinking back to our first class, and the anecdote I share in the opening of the syllabus.
Again, here is a link to my reading notes on Lanham.
Addressing the idea that rhetoric be forbidden because it is capable of evil, Quintilian writes:
Under such a mode of reasoning, neither will generals, nor magistrates, nor medicine, nor even wisdom itself, be of any utility; […] in the hands of physicians poisons have been found; and among those who abuse the name of philosophy have been occasionally detected of the most horrible crimes. We must reject food, for it has often given rise to ill health; we must never go under roofs, for they sometimes fall upon those who dwell beneath them; a sword must not be forged for a soldier, for a rubber may use the same weapon. Who does not know that fire and water, without which life cannot exist, and (that I may not confine myself to things of earth,) that the sun and moon, the chief of the celestial luminaries, sometimes produce hurtful effects? […] And so, although the weapons of eloquence are powerful for good or ill, it is unfair to count as evil something which it is possible to use for good. (Institutes of Oratory II.xvi.9- 10)
Homework
In our next class, we will review our semester so far by playing Historical Rhetoric Jeopardy. We will also discuss possible topics for future research.
In preparation I would ask you to select your two favorite readings thus far and re-read them. This time, pay particular attention to their works cited lists: what other names do you see? what new terms do these readings introduce? I will ask you to share your favorite two readings next class, along with 2-3 sentence summaries of why you selected these readings.
