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Syllabus


Agenda: What to Read When


Americans have forgotten the distinction between civility and servility and thus, being Americans, we slander and abuse everyone in the name of freedom.

Calendar view

My notes and the readings they refer to are linked below. The current week is highlighted, indicating what you are supposed to read that week. If you see a title in plain italics (not hyper-linked), that refers to a paper text, to Plato's Gorgias, for example. You can find those too in digital form; however, I would prefer you read the George Kennedy translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric. If you would like a bird's eye view of the class, click on the site map

Week 1

Introduction to Rhetoric and This ClassYou don't have to turn in notes for this section

  1. Introduction to ENGL 8170
  2. What is Rhetoric?
  3. Rhetoric and Democracy
  4. The Physical Context of Athenian Rhetoric
  5. The Five Canons (offices or divisions or disciplines) of rhetoric
    6. Invention
    Arrangement
    Style
    Memory
    Delivery
  6. James P Murphy's Introduction to Classical Rhetoric (pdf)

Week 2

Sophisticated Skepticism

  1. Rhetoric's Precursors
  2. Dissoi Logoi
  3. Digression on Indirection
  4. Sophists: Education and Politics
  5. How to Think Like a Rhetorician

Week 3

Isocrates

  1. Isocrates
  2. Alcidamas, "Concerning Those Who Write Speeches"

Week 4

Plato Grogias

  • Notes on dialectic
  • Notes on The Gorgias
  • Plato. Gorgias (pdf) The Hackett Edition
    Optional: Chapter 3 of Persuasion: History, Theory, Practice (if you have it)

    • Week 5

    Phaedrus

    1. Phaedrus (digital version)
    2. Some random thoughts on Phaedrus

    Week 6

    Aristotle's Rhetoric Book 1

  • Aristotle Book 1
    Study guide for Aristotle's Rhetoric
    Aristotle's ideas about knowledge
    Applied Aristotle

    • Week 7

    Aristotle's Rhetoric Book 2

  • Aristotle Book 2
    Topics of pleasure
    Topics of magnitude
    Twenty eight common topics
    False topics

    • Week 8

    Aristotle's Rhetoric Book 3

  • Book 3. But skim it judiciously. Some of it is only relevant to the Greek language.
  • Pullman's Notes on Book 3

    • Week 9

    Hellenistic Rhetoric

  • Hellenistic Rhetoric -- From the Death of Alexander (323) to the death of Cleopatra (30)
  • Theophrastus On Characters"
  • Paideia - Greek enculturation in the diaspora
  • Stasis Theory
  • James P. Murphy's Outline of Rhetoric ad Alexandrum
    P's Notes & Quotes
  • Rhetorica Ad Herrenium On Memory
  • Cicero

    • Week 10

    The Second Sophsitic

  • The Second Sophistic -- ad 37 (Reign of Nero) or earlier to 230 ad
  • Hermogenes on Stasis Theory (skim)
  • Apthonius' Progymnismata
    Apthonius Digital Examples (skim)
  • Declamation
    Introduction to Seneca's Controversiae
    Pseudo Quintilian, Declamation 10 (skim)
  • Lucian: The Rhetorician's Way of Life (skim)
  • Libanius' Autobiography, worth skimming a few pages to get a sense of what the life of a rhetorician in those days was like; well, his life anyway. (skim)

    • Week 11

    Quintilian & Augustine

  • You should read the Wiki article on Quintilian for some context.
  • The Institutes of Oratory. This is a digital text. We are interested primarily in the first two and the last two books.
    On Emotional Appeals
  • A brief article for context
  • On Christian Doctrine, Book IV

    • Week 12

    Rhetoric Beyond the Mediterranean

  • Comparative Rhetorics
  • An Annotated Bibliography of Global and Non-Western Rhetorics: Sources for Comparative Rhetorical Studies
    "The “Annotated Bibliography of Global and Non-Western Rhetorics” bears witness to a robust literature that is not so much new as it has been emerging for several decades under one of several monikers: “comparative,” “global,” and/or “non-Western.” At the same time, this particular project emerges at the intersection of two recent conversations that reflect a need to look deliberately and categorically at how the monikers have evolved. "
  • Lu Chi, Wen Fu (Prose Poem on Composition)
  • Han Fei Tzu, The Difficulties of Persuasion

    • Week 13

    Rhetoric Beyond the Mediterranean

  • Absurdly brief note on Egyptian Rhetoric
  • The Teachings of Ptahotep Wikie article
  • The Instructions of Dua-Khety (The Satire of the Trades) About the Middle Kingdom
  • The Wisdom of Amenemope According to the linked copy, this piece, 'comes from the period of the Rameses kings, probably around 1100 BCE.'
  • Amartya Sen The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture, and Identity (PDF) Just the Introduction and Chapter 1

    • Week 14

    Thanksgiving BreakThanksgiving Break

    Week 15

    Last Day of Class (Exam Due)Last Day of Class Exam Due