Outlines two flaws in G. Thomas Goodnight's theory of the public sphere. Argues that Goodnight's distinction between the technical and public spheres is untenable and that modification of his position to recognize the technical nature of public argument strengthens the formulation. Suggests other more applicable terms to describe Goodnight's…

Analyzes a fable current in the discourse of the nuclear freeze movement in the 1980s, that of the "Hundredth Monkey." Shows that Aristotle's classification of the fable as a type of exemplary proof is inadequate to an understanding of its persuasive force. (MS)

Examines Freud's Clark Conference Lectures in which he offers a case in point of the intersection among knowledge, power, and discourse. Argues that Freud's rhetorical action constituted the "new" knowledge of psychoanalysis, while simultaneously forging relationships between the scientific and medical communities that endowed the…

Examines Thomas M. Sawyer's proposed legalistic model for ethical argumentation. Argues that Sawyer's model is inadequate because ethical rules are all too plentiful and because the model invites uncritical appeals to ethical rules. Illustrates how argument from analogy is better than Sawyer's approach for discovering and presenting well-defended…

This article traces a decline in CCCC sessions on language along with a shift toward more reductive definitions. It analyzes early CCCC treatment of language issues, the Students' Right document, changes in demographics and linguistics, and shifts within English departments that have left us overdue for professional reexamination of our role as…

This essay analyzes Kenneth Burke's speech ("Revolutionary Symbolism") to the 1935 Writers Congress, a congress intended to explore the relationship between politics and art, and controlled closely by the American Communist Party. The essay maintains that Burke was prepared to offer to the Communist Party and to all…

In an attempt to define rhetorical discourse, the paper examines the speeches of Ahab, the main character from Herman Melville's book, "Moby-Dick." The paper first determines if Ahab's speeches actually fall into the category of rhetorical discourse by examining his major speeches, and then ascertains whether his speeches are bombs…

Argumentation is fundamentally exhortative: arguments can be understood as invitations to emulate the lives of those who make the arguments. The human exemplar of an argument's substance, e.g. Jesus Christ as exemplar of Christianity, is the paradigm for this theory in which the arguer's identity is seen both as equal in importance to and…

An alternative conception to the idea that the audience determines the nature of a speech. (CH)

During the past decade, debators have become more flexible in their affirmative analysis of the resolution. One case approach that an affirmative team may adopt is the utilities or no-needs need case in which they argue for the elimination of the status quo because it is unnecessary or restrictive or both. This paper examines: (1) the four…

Suggests that inherency is a composite of several distinct factors operating to block the solution of particular policy dysfunctions and offers a rhetorical model as an alternative to the single-definition approach to the concept of inherency. (MH)

Examines Senator George McGovern's speech, "Sources of Our Strength," delivered at Wheaton College, Illinois in 1972 and contends that this address reveals the motivation underlying his bid for the Presidency. (MH)

Examines the symbolic import of Truman's rhetoric of victory in support of U.S. intervention in Korea. (MH)

Proposes an approach to rhetorical criticism that features the relationship between a message and a culturally distanced interpreter or critic. Applies Paul Ricoeur's critical approach to an interpretation of the Gettysburg Address to illustrate how hermeneutics reveals the underlying meaning and cultural significance of enduring texts. (NKA)

Argues that the nuclear threat is fundamentally a textual problem, a problem created and perpetuated by argumentative and rhetorical practices. Maintains that argument critics need to formulate a politically powerful "nuclear criticism" in order to subvert and dismantle argument formations which might motivate nations to engage in…