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last.updated 5.18.09

 

Audience


Purpose

Although Aristotle does not have a book or chapter that deals specifically with the audience, his rhetoric is audience-driven. His psychological approach to rhetoric is designed to be persuasive to his scholarship's contemporary audience, especially in the designated contexts. But the role of the audience has not always been at the forefront of rhetorical study. Instead its importance has risen and fallen throughout history in different contexts. We will examine some of our contemporary discussions of audience and examine how they play out in current applied rhetoric textbooks.


Lecture–Graduate Writing as the Burkean Parlor

The instructor will present Graduate Writing as the Burkean Parlor to explain the expectations for your writing throughout the course (and your graduate career).

Discussion I –The Rhetorical Triangle and Aristotle's Species

As a class, we will address the following questions...

  • What questions do you have about the Aristotle readings?
  • What is the rhetorical triangle? How is this different from the appeals?
  • What is the difference between the appeals and the atechnic proofs?
  • What struck you as contemporary (or surprisingly currently applicable) in Aristotle's strategies?

Discussion II–Contemporary Rhetoric: From the Universal Audience to the Death of the Author

As a class, we will address the following questions...

  • What questions do you have about these texts?
  • What is the debate about Perelman's notion of the universal audience? How does de Valasco interpret this concept? How might you apply his interpretation?
  • What is the "Death of the Author"? What is rhetorically and culturally gained by pronouncing the author dead? What is lost? How is the death of the author similar to or different from the author function?

Activity–Audience in Contemporary Textbooks

In pairs you will...

  • develop a framework that converses with the readings for today's class
  • choose one of the textbooks that the instructor brought to class
  • look through the textbook paying close attention to how the authors deal with the issues of audience
  • using your framework explain how the textbook addresses the issue of audience and what you would tell the authors, if you were in a focus group, they should do in future editions to address this issue