History and Theory of Rhetoric: The Later Theory
Term: 2
MWF, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
What is rhetoric, and how does rhetoric work? How you can persuade your friends, family, colleagues, and strangers? Some of the most infamous intellectuals in in the history of European thought vehemently disagree about the answers to these questions, but taken together, their answers provide a blueprint for rhetorical theory. By reading and applying major rhetorical theories advanced in the major epochs of western intellectual history, students will learn how writers such as St. Augustine, Desiderius Erasmus, Baldesar Castiglione, Giambattista Vico, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Kenneth Burke (among others) conceived the arts of persuasion, argumentation, and style.
