On the Term "Dunamis" in Aristotle's Definition of Rhetoric
The term dunamis, by which Aristotle defines rhetoric in the first chapter of The Art of Rhetoric, is a “power” term, as its various meanings in Aristotle’s corpus—from vernacular ones like “political influence” to strictly philosophical ones like “potentiality”—attest.1 In the Rhetoric, however, dunamis is usually translated as “ability” or “faculty,” a designation that, compared to other terms that describe persuasion in ancient Greek poetics and rhetoric (such as “bia” [“force”] or “eros” [“seduction”]), marks rhetoric as a neutral human capacity rather than the use of language entangled in the vagaries of violence and desire.2 John Kirby calls Aristotle’s definition “one of the boldest moves in the history of the philosophy of language: to redefine rhetoric, not as the use of peitho but as the study of peitho” (1990, 227). The presumption of rhetoric’s ethical neutrality implied by dunamis has indeed become commonplace in interpretations of Aristotle’s treatise itself and of rhetoric as a social phenomenon. As George Kennedy puts it in his authoritative translation of the Rhetoric, “Aristotle was the first person to recognize clearly that rhetoric as an art of communication was morally neutral, that it could be used either for good or ill” (1991, ix). In this article, I would like to probe another, perhaps not so reassuring, implication of dunamis as a term for rhetoric—that as “an ability to see all available means of persuasion,” it does not need to become (or emulate) practical oratory. In what follows, I suggest that Aristotle’s terminology, however neutral it may appear, constitutes an intellectually and politically motivated act of naming that severs rhetorical knowledge from historically specific rhetorical practices and thereby erects a protective barrier between practical rationality and discourses of democracy.
Learning from the Histories of Rhetoric: Essays in Honor of Winifred Bryan Horner
This collection of eleven essays honors Winifred Bryan Horner for her sustained effort to establish that the special nature of rhetoric and composition leads the discipline to theorize practice and to apply theory as its central acts.Theresa Enos urges those in the field to learn from the histories of rhetoric in order to draw rhetoric and composition together and to understand theory in practice and the practice of theory as conceptualized by Aristotle. Rhetoric, the oldest of the humanities, has practice as its very basis, but English faculty who teach history of rhetoric courses often think that studying rhetorical history for its own sake is enough. In addition, the typical history course taught in English departments is nearly identical to the traditional ones that have been taught in speech and communication departments for three-quarters of a century. Enos believes that using the infrastructure of courses taught in speech does not meet the needs of teachers of written communication."Learning from the Histories of Rhetoric "is based on the problems Enos has perceived when history has not been connected to teaching, learning, using. Her goal is both to honor Winifred Horner, who has spent her career in trying to make usable connections between rhetoric and composition, and to feature well-known historians of rhetoric who can translate what they have learned about the history of rhetoric into the writing classroom. As future teachers of writing take courses in history as part of core curricula, Enos believes this volume can be a concise complement to the thousands of pages of history and theory they will be readingthat it can be a resource guide that will generate and enrich discussion, further suggestions for teaching, and heighten awareness of the uses of history for writing teachers.Enos has organized the essays into two parts: "Studying the Histories of Rhetoric" and "Teaching the Histories of Rhetoric." Richard Lloyd-Jones begins part 1 by interweaving personal and professional history as a pedagogue who consciously and explicitly uses the history of rhetoric. Thomas P. Miller makes a strong argument for broadening our knowledge of rhetorical traditions and deepening our perceptions of what they can mean to teaching. Donald C. Stewart suggests how we might reach into our history to find a philosophical model for present-day college rhetoric and composition programs. And Edward P. J. Corbett charts the history closest to teachers and administrators in writing programs.In part 2, Susan C. Jarratt concentrates on Sappho to demonstrate that women s ways of thinking and writing can differ from men s. Marjorie Curry Woods shows that writing pedagogy from medieval times can be useful to current classroom strategies. Both Jean Dietz Moss and Kathleen E. Welch focus on dialectic, Moss showing how closely dialectic and rhetoric worked together in the Renaissance and Welch continuing the argument for including dialectic in college writing courses. Richard Leo Enos and S. Michael Halloran delineate strong relationships between classical rhetoric and two present-day approaches to writing: peer collaboration and declamation."
Philosophy of Education
LIST OF FIGURES PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 Philosophy of Education Before the Twentieth Century Socrates and Plato Aristotle Rousseau Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 2 The Philosophical and Educational Thought of John Dewey Dewey's Philosophical Orientation The Meaning and Aims of Education Dewey's Psychology Dewey's Theory of Knowledge Democracy and Education The Place of Subject Matter Dewey Today: An Assessment Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 3 Analytic Philosophy Philosophical Analysis in Education The Analysis of Teaching Current Analyses of Teaching Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 4 Continental Philosophy Existentialism Phenomenology Critical Theory Hermeneutics Postmodernism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 5 Logic and Critical Thinking Formal Logic Informal Logic McPeck's View of Critical Thinking An Alternative Approach Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 6 Epistemology and Education Justified True Belief Foundationalism Truth Nonfoundational Theories of Knowledge Epistemology and Education Constructivism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 7 Philosophy of Social Science and Educational Research How Does Science Grow? A Debate in Educational Research Some Examples Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 8 Ethics and Moral Education Pre-Enlightenment Ethics Enlightenment Ethics Utilitarianism Deweyan Ethics Moral Education Cognitive Developmentalism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 9 Social and Political Philosophy The Current Debate Justice and Equality in Education Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 10 Problems of School Reform Equality Accountability Standards Testing Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 11 Multiculturalism and Cosmopolitanism Multiculturalism Cosmopolitanism The Educator's Dilemma Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 12 Feminism, Philosophy, and Education Feminist Critiques of Philosophy Epistemology Philosophy of Social Science Ethics Care and Education Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX