Quote: "Despite the power of political oratory and public debate during the nineteenth century in increasingly democratic societies, rhetoric as an intellectual discipline diminished in importance, its theoretical substance dispersed among the related fields of psychology, philosophy, and criticism." (Enlightenment Rhetoric, 639)
Question: Why do you think rhetoric as an "intellectual discipline" or study in school became less prevalent over time compared to the other fields of study?
I think many peopled to started to only believe in certain or absolute truths. When you have something like rhetoric, where there is no right or wrong answer, people can become skeptical in if it's really even important or an actual field of study in the first place. Even today many individuals would consider it not relevant or "BS". I think people need to remember that questioning things, even things that we believe to be true, is how we continue to grow as a people and continue to get more knowledgeable as a group.
ReplyDeleteRhetoric, as we're finding in class, is something that hasn't been defined in all the time it's been something considered worth studying. With the enlightenment came the drive to focus on things that could be completely and clearly understood, as those are the things that classically produce the most amount of change, the quickest. Therefore there is a loss of concern for this field.
ReplyDeleteI think the movement away from rhetoric has two main causes: the elusive definition and the misconceptions around it. As we have all learned so far in class, there isn't one solid definition to rhetoric; it's just one of those concepts that you can't concretely define. It makes sense that most people would lose interest in something that has dozens of different perspectives. Additionally, there's a general misconception that rhetoric is used solely in persuasion and especially so in political arenas. The distrust of politicians and government then bleeds over into rhetoric being viewed as something nefarious that's being used to trick people.
ReplyDeleteI do agree there is a lot of misconception around it. With a lot of theorist they all have their idea of a "good" speaker or person. This concept of good can be different throughout all different types of societies. Rhetoric can be hard to teach in the modern world being that we can't truly define it today.
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