Discussion Question:
Choose two rhetorical concepts from any of the following: Foucault, Derrida, Cixous, or Anzaldua (in this week’s readings). What early rhetorical theories
seem most aligned with and divergent from these concepts? What does that say about our changing assumptions about rhetoric?
1. response:
Early rhetorical theories generally assign the speaker the role of presenting previously unknown truths to the audience, transferring knowledge in a way that
moves them towards a particular line of thought or action. This often creates a hierarchy in rhetoric which is power heavy on the orator’s side. According to
Bizzell et. al. (2020), Foucault dismantles this concept and, “To do so, he reverses the order of the relationship between discourse and what is traditionally
taken to be its source: That is, he treats author, meaning, and knowledge as a function of discourse, not as its source” (p. 2896). In Foucault assessment of
discourse, there is no predetermined truth to be transferred, but instead, discourse is a place where knowledge develops.
Interestingly Cixous’ experiences with the experimental dissolution of academic hierarchy at the University of Paris at Vincennes, brought her to conclusion
that the, “that the professor-student hierarchy cannot really be dismantled” (Bizzel et. al., 2020, p. 3085). This however is as far as Cixous’ views align with
early rhetoricians, as her work focuses on dismantling the male dominated, or phallocentric traditions, of historical rhetoric. In Cixous (1975) The Laugh of
the Medusa, she argues, “Nearly the entire history of writing is confounded with the history of reason, of which it is at once the effect, the support, and one of
the privileged alibis. It has been one with the phallocentric tradition. It is indeed that same self-admiring, self-stimulating, self-congratulatory phallocentrism”
(Bizzel et. al., 2020, p. 3097). Cixous argues that genuine observations about the world cannot be made within the strict confines and limitations that have
been historically applied to rhetoric and philosophy.
Reference:
Bizzell, P., Herzberg, B., & Reames, R. (Eds.). (2020). The rhetorical tradition: Readings from classical times to the present (3rd ed.). Bedford/St.Martin’s.
https://bibliu.com/
app/#/view/books/9781319279271/epub/OEBPS/xhtml/biz_9781319032746_FM_
cover.html#page_1
I need to reply to this response. It has to be a scholarly response with 2 sources, it needs to be 2 paragraphs and 200 words in APA format.
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