Definition of Rhetoric

Application is no longer available.

Context

This definition of rhetoric was composed for Understanding Rhetoric, a foundational course of the PWR major taught by Dr. Travis Maynard. Throughout the course, we created an initial, midterm and final definition of rhetoric. After studying different philosophical rhetoricians (including Burke and Gorgias, whose ideas are consistently cited in this piece), my final definition of rhetoric stood as: “The art of persuasive communication to convey your nuanced point of view to a particular audience, made stronger through the use of different rhetorical tactics/devices and examined through various societal structures.”

Rhetorical Strategies

In order to create my definition, I analyzed and revised my previous definitions with the new information we learned throughout the course. Some of the main rhetorical strategies that helped shape my definition included enthymemes, endoxa, and terministic screens, which all heavily emphasize the importance of audience and context, which stood as the groundwork for my definition. As an avid consumer of various media for myself, what strikes me the most about a piece of content (and what will usually drive its point closest to home) is the creator's ability to leverage a sense of relatability with their audience and get them on their "side". These rhetorical strategies (enthymeme: a rhetorical argument that omits one of its premises, relying on the audience to supply the missing assumption to reach a logical conclusion; endoxa: ideas that are held to be true by a significant portion of people, including the majority, or by reputable and wise individuals; terministic screens: how terms, words, and phrases we use, influenced by our culture and experiences, direct our attention to certain aspects of a situation while ignoring others, thus creating our individual "view" of it. This screen is not the reality itself, but the lens through which we interpret reality, affecting our actions and beliefs) when used properly can heavily influence an audience member to form or shape their beliefs in accordance with the author, which I believe greatly contributes to the definition of rhetoric in and of itself.

Additionally, I touched upon current events that were happening in the Spring of 2024 (when I was enrolled in this course) in order to demonstrate the definitions' applicability. Specifically, I discussed the controversial speech given by Harris Buker at a Catholic Universities graduation, and analyzed whether or not he used the proper rhetorical tools for a commencement speech.

Reflection

Overall, this is a paper I was proud to compose for the Understanding Rhetoric course. Considering this assignment was embedded throughout the entirety of the class, I was able to recall the new information I learned and apply it to real world contexts, which I still do today. Most importantly, this assignment taught me that the definition of rhetoric, though malleable in different situations, stands tall on the pillars of audience, context and communication, which are some of the main skills and components I have been honing in on throughout my undergraduate career as a writer.