HU2642 post #11
Reading: "The Rhetorical Situation" (1968) by Lloyd F. Bitzer
In this piece, Bitzer seeks to define what he sees as a gap in the study of rhetoric, a concept he terms a rhetorical situation. So far as I can see, such a situation differs from the ancient rhetorical concept of context in only one way: that Bitzer's situation is not merely the "complex of persons, events, objects and relations" present and interacting at the time and scene where a rhetorical piece is delivered, but also that this scenario provide an urgency whereby the rhetorician feels compelled to create "discourse which changes reality" as a result of turning the audience's minds or actions to deal with the urgency.
This difference is subtle, but central to his argument; he returns to it time and again throughout. He analogizes that a rhetorical situation is like a posed question in that it provides not only an opportunity, but an impetus to respond, to deal with the situation, although he allows that some such situations pass by without anyone rising to the challenge, like a question gone unanswered. It boils down to the old adage, "See a need, fill a need." In Btizer's eyes, all rhetoric serves to fill some need.
I would challenge one small portion, however. On page 8, he writes, Neither scientific nor poetic discourse requires an audience in the same sense. Indeed, neither requires an audience in order to produce its end; the scientist can produce a discourse expressive or generative of knowledge without engaging another mind, and the poet's creative purpose is accomplished when the work is composed.
I refuse that a scientist who does not share his findings generates knowledge in a broader sense. They may expand their own understanding, but if no paper or lectures are given, the knowledge dies with the scientist. I understand less of the motivations of artists -- of any medium -- but I would think that any feelings or message they infuse into their work are intended to be shared. Without an audience to receive the work -- even if that audience is only the artist's self -- then the process is uncompleted.
In this piece, Bitzer seeks to define what he sees as a gap in the study of rhetoric, a concept he terms a rhetorical situation. So far as I can see, such a situation differs from the ancient rhetorical concept of context in only one way: that Bitzer's situation is not merely the "complex of persons, events, objects and relations" present and interacting at the time and scene where a rhetorical piece is delivered, but also that this scenario provide an urgency whereby the rhetorician feels compelled to create "discourse which changes reality" as a result of turning the audience's minds or actions to deal with the urgency.
This difference is subtle, but central to his argument; he returns to it time and again throughout. He analogizes that a rhetorical situation is like a posed question in that it provides not only an opportunity, but an impetus to respond, to deal with the situation, although he allows that some such situations pass by without anyone rising to the challenge, like a question gone unanswered. It boils down to the old adage, "See a need, fill a need." In Btizer's eyes, all rhetoric serves to fill some need.
I would challenge one small portion, however. On page 8, he writes, Neither scientific nor poetic discourse requires an audience in the same sense. Indeed, neither requires an audience in order to produce its end; the scientist can produce a discourse expressive or generative of knowledge without engaging another mind, and the poet's creative purpose is accomplished when the work is composed.
I refuse that a scientist who does not share his findings generates knowledge in a broader sense. They may expand their own understanding, but if no paper or lectures are given, the knowledge dies with the scientist. I understand less of the motivations of artists -- of any medium -- but I would think that any feelings or message they infuse into their work are intended to be shared. Without an audience to receive the work -- even if that audience is only the artist's self -- then the process is uncompleted.