Alec Roach
ERH 202-0WX1 Rhetorical Traditions I
12/1/15
Help Received: Notes from our meeting
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- Alec Roach
Rhetoric: Where it Belongs and Why
Throughout the year, the section has discussed what rhetoric is and where we believe it belongs. As always, the definition has changed. Now, I believe that rhetoric is a practice, one that everyone uses daily. Specifically though, rhetoric’s sphere is in teaching. Teachers are the people that influence the coming generations, from kindergarten until you graduate from college or graduate school, teachers influence and persuade us to see or view something that we did not grasp or understand until after the completion of school. St. Augustine created the realm of teaching and the rhetorical discussion it creates today through his teachings and those he gained from Cicero.
The realm of teaching did not come into being until St. Augustine began studying rhetoric in the late Middle Ages. A priest in the Catholic Church, Augustine began studying rhetoric towards the end of Cicero’s life. Cicero, as described by Christian Habicht, “made Greek philosophy accessible” to the church (Herrick117). Herrick also writes that the church relied on Cicero’s teachings for, “guidance in their teaching, debates with opponents, and evangelism…Cicero occupied the center of that tradition” (Herrick117).
Evangelism was a new concept created at this time in history. The church had just become recognized by Constantinople, and Christianity was still a new and growing religion. St. Augustine created the idea of evangelism, seeing it as a way to bring more to Christ. Christ himself used evangelism, spreading the gospel message through interactions with the religious heads of the time and the common people. In doing this, Christ himself became a rhetorician, starting a rhetorical discussion that still exists today. Augustine put this practice into his teachings, stating in Doctrine de Christiana, “it is the duty, then, of the student and teacher of the Holy Scriptures…to conciliate the hostile, to arouse the careless, and to inform those ignorant of the matter…” (Augustine Doctrine de Christiana). What he means by this is that by creating this rhetorical discussion, it is the job of the orator or rhetorician to fully inform those who know nothing of Christianity about it. This in itself creates teaching as we know it. The Bible was one of the first books available to the common person, being translated into many different languages to be more accessible to those in foreign lands. This gave rise to teaching as we know it today.
However, St. Augustine would not have had this knowledge and background for his teachings if Cicero had not created them. Herrick says that “Cicero was the greatest speaker and one of the most prolific writers of his day, an unparalleled master of argument” (Herrick94). Cicero created the five cannons of rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Expression, Memory, and Delivery, laying the groundwork for the rhetorical tradition we have today. These cannons create the realm of teaching as we know it now as well. Each cannon can be seen in the methods that teachers today use: asking us to create new and inventive ideas, teaching us how to arrange ideas and thoughts into logical progressions, expressing our ideals clearly and concisely, giving us tools to memorize material, and ways to deliver our thoughts and actions in a professional and effective way.
Rhetorical Education in America is a collection of works written by various rhetoricians that discuss rhetoric and its place in shaping American education. One of the contributing scholars, William N. Denman, writes, “during the nineteenth century, American education moved away from the classic neoclassical approach and became more egalitarian and practical and was an integral force in national development” (Denman3). This shift from the neoclassical method is the form of education that we know today, particularly in higher education in America. Teachers in colleges and universities not only teach basic knowledge in their respective classes, but they, although somewhat unconsciously, influence what kind of citizens we become. Denman defines the neoclassic style of teaching as one that, “formed and trained the ‘citizen-orator’” (Denman3).
However, Denman also notes that some view this change as, “a significant loss to American civic life” (Denman3). I disagree with this notion, I believe that it furthers American civic life. The English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies department here at VMI places a large emphasis on rhetoric as a practice (take this class for example). I have made connections with rhetorical practices in my public speaking class as well as in my British Literary Traditions course. In public speaking, I practice ethos as defined by Aristotle as, “my credibility” as well logos and pathos, thereby creating my own rhetorical conversation. In British Literary Traditions, we have read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe, and Othello by William Shakespeare. Both Frankenstein and Othello are influenced heavily by Christianity, and both authors acknowledge the teachings of St. Augustine by alluding to the religion. We had discussions on the novel and play, thereby also creating a rhetorical discussion in the realm of teaching. Cicero created eloquence, or, “the key connection between civic virtue and individual virtue” (Herrick99). This applies to teaching today, connecting history or novels to present day issues or discussions.
Rhetorical Landscapes in America by Gregory Clark discusses rhetoric in the American landscape and people as a whole. In chapter 1, Clark discusses Landscape, National Identity, and Civic Tourism in relation to rhetoric. He defines civic tourism as, “a fundamental rhetorical experience that prompts individuals to make themselves over in the image of a collective identity that they find symbolized in their national landscape” (Clark25). Clark also states that, “Americans have always desired this sort of transformation…share a need to become rhetorical tourists in their homeland” (Clark25). By this reasoning, all Americans practice civic and rhetorical discourse. Earlier in the section, Clark has an excerpted quote by Alexander de Tocqueville from Democracy in America saying, “…bringing him into contact with his fellow citizens. He crosses the country in every direction; he visits all the various population of the land. There is not a province in France in which the natives are so well known to one another as the thirteen millions of men who cover the territory of the United States” (Clark25). This quote personifies the rhetorical conversation that we have today by showing that through education and teaching in America, we create the discussion that is still going on today.
Some people may say that this is not so, that this discussion was not created through teaching and that teaching is not rhetoric’s domain. However, if you use the definition of eloquence as defined by Cicero, the connection between civic virtue and individual virtue, then you would have to agree that this is exactly where rhetoric belongs. (Herrick99). To become a respected citizen, you have to have an education, to be educated, you have to go to school and be taught, thus planting the seeds of the rhetorical discussion and how to become involved in it. Cicero would also argue that to be a good citizen, then you must be involved in the rhetorical discussion as well as contribute to it. Denman would also agree that rhetoric in teaching is, “an integral force in national development” (Denman3).
Rhetoric in teaching is the entire basis for teaching. It is the art, yes art, of passing on knowledge and preparing the next generation for the world that they are about to enter. Through St. Augustine laying down the model of teaching, Cicero’s five cannons as well as his definition of eloquence, and the works of Denman and Clark, it is obvious that rhetoric and teaching go hand in hand. Therefore, rhetoric should belong, and does belong, in the realm of teaching and the classroom.
Works Cited
Clark, Gregory. Rhetorical Landscapes in America . Columbia: University of South Carolina Press , 2004. Chapter 1: Landscape, National Identity, and Civic Tourism.print.
Glenn, Cheryl and Margaret M. Sharer, Wendy B. Lyday. Rhetorical Education in America . Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press , 2004. Chapter 1: Rhetoric, the “Citizen-Orator,” and the Revitalization of Civic Discourse in American Life.print.
Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric . Vol. 05. Boston: Hope College, 2013.print.
Bizzell, Patricia, and Bruce Herzberg, eds. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, 2nd ed. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. Doctrine de Christiana, print.