- "Rhetorical criticism analyzes the symbolic artifacts of discourse—the words, phrases, images, gestures, performances, texts, films, etc. that people use to communicate."
The process of examining and deconstructing speeches or other forms of communication to identify and analyze the strategies and techniques used to persuade and influence an audience.
Definition of Rhetoric: Understanding what rhetoric is and the significance of studying it.
Elements of Rhetoric: Familiarizing yourself with the building blocks of rhetoric, which include ethos (credibility), pathos (emotions), logos (logic), and kairos (timeliness).
Artistic Proofs: Understanding the essential artistic proofs: ethos, pathos, and logos, and how they contribute to persuasive discourse.
Inartistic Proofs: Understanding the inartistic proofs: the evidence, authority, and witnesses, which do not stem from the speaker but are nevertheless essential to persuasive discourse.
Types of Rhetorical Appeals: Understanding the different types of rhetorical appeals commonly used in persuasive discourse, such as ad hominem arguments, slippery slope arguments, and strawman arguments.
Rhetorical Strategies: Familiarizing yourself with various rhetorical strategies used in persuasive discourse, such as repetition, rhetorical questions, and understatement.
The Rhetorical Situation: Understanding that rhetorical situations are the circumstances that create the need for persuasion and the role of the audience in responding to the speech.
Audience Analysis: The importance of understanding the audience's expectations and motivations and how to tailor a persuasive message that speaks to those traits.
Context: Understanding the importance of situational, linguistic, and cultural contexts in persuasive discourse.
Critical Analysis: Critical analysis is the application of various theoretical and analytical approaches to rhetorically analyze persuasive discourse, and is a critical tool for rhetorical analysis.
Rhetorical Criticism: Introduction to various schools of rhetorical criticism, such as formalist, ideological, and semiotic criticism.
Strategies for Effective Public Speaking: Understanding the essential elements of effective public speaking, including voice, body language, and delivery.
Historical and Contemporary Examples of Rhetoric: Studying key historical and contemporary speeches or works of persuasion for their rhetorical strategies and artistic proofs.
Ethics of Rhetoric: Examining the ethical, moral, and legal implications of persuasive discourse and the responsibility of the speaker.
Logos Analysis: This type of analysis focuses on the use of logic, or reasoning, by the author or speaker. It examines how well the arguments and evidence presented within a text or speech are built, structured, and presented.
Ethos Analysis: This type of analysis examines the author's or speaker's credibility or authority to speak on a given topic. It looks at the strategies used by the author to convey their trustworthiness, expertise, or ethical stance to the audience.
Pathos Analysis: This type of analysis examines how the author or speaker appeals to the emotions of the audience. It looks at the use of sensory and emotional language, metaphor, and imagery to evoke feelings of empathy, compassion, or outrage.
Kairos Analysis: This type of analysis focuses on the timing and context in which the text or speech is delivered. It examines how the author or speaker selects and adapts their message for a particular rhetorical moment or occasion.
Visual Rhetorical Analysis: This type of analysis examines how images, graphics, and other visual components are used to persuade or influence an audience. It looks at the design, composition, and presentation of visual elements to see how they convey the author's or speaker's message.
Cultural Rhetorical Analysis: This type of analysis examines how language and rhetoric are shaped by and, in turn, shape the culture in which they exist. It looks at the impact of historical, social, and cultural contexts on language and communication practices.
Genre Analysis: This type of analysis examines how different genres or types of texts (e.g., speeches, essays, news articles, etc.) use rhetorical strategies to achieve particular aims. It compares and contrasts the rhetorical features, structures, and conventions of different genres.
Feminist Rhetorical Analysis: This type of analysis examines the ways in which gender is constructed and reinforced through language and rhetoric. It looks at how gendered language and imagery are used to create or reinforce gender stereotypes, biases, or inequalities.
Intersectional Rhetorical Analysis: This type of analysis examines the ways in which multiple dimensions of identity (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, class, etc.) interact and intersect in language and rhetoric. It looks at how different social identities intersect to create unique experiences of oppression or privilege.
Critical Discourse Analysis: This type of analysis examines the ways in which language and rhetoric are used to reproduce or challenge power relations in society. It looks at how language and rhetoric are used to construct and reinforce social hierarchies, such as race, class, or gender.
- "Rhetorical analysis shows how the artifacts work, how well they work, and how the artifacts, as discourse, inform and instruct, entertain and arouse, and convince and persuade the audience."
- "Discourse includes the possibility of morally improving the reader, the viewer, and the listener."
- "The arts of Rhetorical criticism are an intellectual practice that dates from the time of Plato, in Classical Greece (5th–4th c. BC)."
- "In the dialogue Phaedrus (c. 370 BC), the philosopher Socrates analyzes a speech by Lysias (230e–235e) the logographer (speech writer) to determine whether or not it is praiseworthy."
- "Criticism is an art, not a science. It is not a scientific method; it uses subjective methods of argument; it exists on its own, not in conjunction with other methods of generating knowledge (i.e., social scientific or scientific)."
- "The academic purpose of Rhetorical criticism is greater understanding and appreciation in human relations."
- "By improving understanding and appreciation, the critic can offer new, and potentially exciting, ways for others to see the world."
- "Through understanding we also produce knowledge about human communication; in theory, this should help us to better govern our interactions with others."
- "the words, phrases, images, gestures, performances, texts, films, etc. that people use to communicate."
- "the artifacts, as discourse, inform and instruct, entertain and arouse, and convince and persuade the audience."
- "The arts of Rhetorical criticism are an intellectual practice that dates from the time of Plato, in Classical Greece (5th–4th c. BC)."
- "In the dialogue Phaedrus (c. 370 BC), the philosopher Socrates analyzes a speech by Lysias (230e–235e) the logographer (speech writer) to determine whether or not it is praiseworthy."
- "Criticism is an art, not a science. It is not a scientific method; it uses subjective methods of argument; it exists on its own, not in conjunction with other methods of generating knowledge (i.e., social scientific or scientific)."
- "The academic purpose of Rhetorical criticism is greater understanding and appreciation in human relations."
- "By improving understanding and appreciation, the critic can offer new, and potentially exciting, ways for others to see the world."
- "Through understanding we also produce knowledge about human communication; in theory, this should help us to better govern our interactions with others."
- "The arts of Rhetorical criticism are an intellectual practice that dates from the time of Plato, in Classical Greece (5th–4th c. BC)."
- "Discourse includes the possibility of morally improving the reader, the viewer, and the listener."
- "Rhetorical analysis shows how the artifacts work, how well they work, and how the artifacts, as discourse, inform and instruct, entertain and arouse, and convince and persuade the audience."