It is surprising that the arts of philosophical enquiry and rhetorical argument have not been conjoined by advocates of philosophy in schools. It is surely important for people to reflect on a question carefully, pay attention to different standpoints, assess reasons and admit fallibility. However, they are disempowered if they cannot defend their beliefs or promote their considered commitments effectively.
Philosophers frequently define their practice against rhetoric. The one involves rigorous truth seeking, the other is no more than manipulation by clever use of language and persuasive techniques. This is a lazy, if convenient, generalisation. Rhetorical competence is an important life skill. Rhetorical invention in the moment often reveals new insights that contribute to further inquiry.
Cicero in ‘The Orator’ complains about philosophers claiming the great topics of politics and ethics as their own preserve.
“All the academies and schools of philosophy will, I do believe, raise the cry that all these matters are their exclusive province, and in no way whatever the concern of the orator. But when I have allowed that they may debate these subjects in their holes and corners, to pass an idle hour, it is to the orator none the less that I shall entrust and assign the task of developing with complete charm and cogency the same themes which they discuss in a sort of thin and bloodless style.” (p.43).
Philosophy in schools doesn’t always have to be carried out
with people sat in a circle taking turns to speak and listen, with little time
to embellish their arguments or find the right words to express the meanings
they want to convey. Teachers could help their students recognise and use
rhetorical techniques. They could also allow for episodes of argumentative performance
by students and adopt those performances as starting points for further
enquiry. Often, when people respond to the challenge of rhetorical invention, their efforts can refresh and re-energise a dialogue that has reached a point of stasis. Minority viewpoints can be articulated without interuption. Philospophical enquiry and rhetorical invention can be friends.
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* Cicero translated Sutton, E. W. (1948), Cicero on the Orator Books 1–2, Harvard University Press.
Hi Steve. I'm very much enjoying your posts - great idea to keep them 'bitesize'. Would you include forms of expression such as poetry, paining, music etc. as rhetoric? I can see that these, in addition to speeches / prose, would lead to the kind of invention and insight that you describe above and I like that idea very much. I guess the key thing then is to be willing to return this act of expression to the dialogue and be open to having one's thinking changed again - a cycle of dialogue and rhetoric perhaps akin to the trivium idea of dialectic followed by rhetoric. I have to say that I have always been wary of the idea of rhetoric as an attempt to manipuplate, which seems a departure from the notion of 'the unforced force of the better argument'. Different if seen as a part of a larger, ongoing dialogue, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteHi there
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comments. Yes, poetry, and painting are forms of expression you could use. Forms of expression are a bit different to rhetoric but each form has its own associated rhetorical possibilities and traditions. I'd like to hear more about how you envisage music being used. The reason I highlighted prose was that it most easily comes out of and feeds back into what has been happening in an oral dialogue. Also, when putting an argument in public to justify a belief or action, prose is the usual medium. I do think students should be supported to justify their beliefs reasonably and effectively to an audience.