RHE 240 - Intermediate Courses- Literature/ Fine Arts Communication Theory

Institution:

Wabash College

Subject:

Description:

This course pursues five related goals. First, it gives students the background necessary for further study of communication issues in a variety of contexts. The central communicative issues highlighted in Rhetoric 240 include language, meaning, information, interaction, and influence. Second, this course gives students a grounding in the two dominant perspectives that inform communication research: the humanistic and social scientific research paradigms. Third, the course introduces students to the parameters and chief areas of concern in the field of communication and its relationship to other disciplines such as English, Psychology, and Political Science. Fourth, the course discusses the philosophical assumptions that serve as the foundations for theories and the ethical issues that arise in the process of such scholarly endeavor. Finally, this course focuses on application and develops student competencies in using theories to analyze communicative events. Credits: 1 Advanced Level Courses: Advanced level courses are characterized by original research and theorizing. Students will learn to engage primary source material in both theory and criticism and to produce new insights into the texts that they select as artifacts for examination as well as contribute to the broader scholarship in rhetorical studies. Papers produced in these contexts will be of high quality, possess substantial literature reviews, utilize original theoretical approaches to texts, and illustrate an awareness of the role of rhetoric within the intellectual history. These classes will prepare students to excel in their comprehensive exams as well as possible graduate training by providing them with the knowledge to speak critically and to view themselves as part of a larger scholarly community with which they are in dialogue. Advanced Courses-Literature/Fine Arts RHE 320 Classical Rhetoric This course focuses on the origin and development of rhetoric and rhetorical theory during the classical period. The course begins in the pre disciplinary stage of Homer and the Sophists and examines such works as Homer's Iliad, Gorgias Encomium of Helen , and Isocrates ' Antidosi s. The course then moves to Plato 's Gorgias and Phaedr us) and the "disciplinizing" efforts of Aristo tle ( On Rheto ric). Finally, the course examines the efforts of Ci cero (On Invention, Or ator , and On the Ora tor), Quintil ian ( Institutes of Orat ory), and Augus tine (On Christian Doct rine) to reunite philosophy and rhetoric and include ethics within the realm of rhetoric. Students learn how rhetorical theories are generated out of the specific needs of particular political and social contexts. In addition, students examine the influence of literacy on human interaction and the study of rhetoric in particular. Finally, students trace the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy from pre-Platonic unity, through Plato's bifurcation, and finally to the attempts at reunification by Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. This course is offered in the fall semeCredits: 1

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wabash.edu

Phone Number:

(765) 361-6100

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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