Description
In your first thought essay you explored rhetoric’s definition and applied it to how someone else used it. For this thought essay you are asked to look at how you use it. Foss, Griffin, Brockriede and Plato all discuss how rhetoricians should act ethically, and describe that ideal position as “lovers” – the wisdom-lover for Plato, Invitational for Foss and the Arguer as Lover for Brockriede. Moreover, Bakhtin and Burke discuss how rhetoric can impact others. Consider what it means to be a “lover” when practicing rhetoric, and then respond to the following prompt.
Prompt: Pick a situation in which you were a rhetor/ used rhetoric as a tool. What type of rhetoric did you use: conquest, conversion, advisory or invitational? What was the role of ethics in your endeavor? Set the context and examine your rhetorical decision through the eyes of Foss & Griffin, then back that up with either Plato or Brockriede. Justify your response with specific examples and references to course concepts, including either Bakhtin and/or Burke.
Your answer should be a thesis driven discussion of the role of ethics in your own rhetorical acts. Some secondary issues you could consider*:
Examine your intent: was it to persuade? Was it to over-power? Was it seductive?
How did your use of rhetoric affect the Other: did it “bring them into Being” as Bakhtin would argue? Or did your response deny their “existence?”
Did you use identification according to Burke? Explain how.
Should/could ethics have played a greater role in the example you identify? Why or why not?
Do we have a responsibility with our “response-ability?”
Do we suffer from moral relativism in our postmodern world? Should there be clearly defined ethical guidelines for us or should we treat everyone as a “lover”?
Was heteroglossia a factor in your exchange?
*These questions are merely secondary suggestions. You do not need to and should not try to answer all of the questions. They are just examples of some ways to approach the prompt. Be sure to focus your main thesis on the prompt itself.
Remember: The purpose of this assignment is to get you to think through the material carefully. You should reference text concepts to lend support for your argument and discussion of rhetoric and ethics, but this assignment is also designed to solicit your feelings on the topics we have covered.
