Tuesday
18 SepThe summary of all issues from the first to twenty-third
The summary of all issues from the first to twenty-third(Jakub Z. Lichanski) FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE fasc. 1, 2004 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! You are entering the first issue of the first Polish periodical devoted to the subject of rhetoric in the widest understanding of the term and to the phenomenon that is sometimes referred to as rhetoric culture. It is published by Warsaw University’s Research Facility in History and Theory of Rhetoric, which also offers classes in rhetoric, meeting and conferences that encourage discussion and debate and publishes books devoted to this subject matter. We welcome everybody who wishes to write about rhetoric and who finds this topic close to their heart. In the Articles/Dissertationes section, we present dissertations concerning all topics relating to rhetoric. In the current issue, we include some pieces originating from the third conference of the series Rhetoric in literature studies (21-22 February 2004, Warsaw University) and an article attempting to assess the present stage of research on rhetoric in Poland. The Translations/Interpretationis section, for which your contributions will be greatly welcome, includes translations of either the newest works on the subject or older but less known papers which nevertheless raise important issues concerning rhetoric. This issue includes an article by Prof. Janice R. Walker of Georgia Southern University (Satesboro, USA). In the New Publications, reviews/Librorum existimationes section, we offer information about the newest academic literature or important academic, (and sometimes cultural), events relating to rhetoric culture in general. In the Current News/Recentiora section, we provide information concerning important events, conferences, meetings, and lectures relating to rhetoric culture in general. In the current issue, I would like to draw your attention to the announcement about the fourth rhetoric conference Rhetoric and argumentation and a declamation contest. Also, I would like you to be aware of the report on the 2nd Oxford Discussions Competition. Finally, the Advertisements/Nuntii section incorporates additiomal information including letters to and from the editors. We would like to inform you in advance that every third issue in a given year will include a short report on the Facility’s activities concerning both substantive actions and financial issues. As an exception, this year the report will be published in the second issue. We look forward to your collaboration as authors and promoters of the idea of the return to rhetoric: classical rhetoric, Aristotle’s téchne rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia. Jakub Z. Lichanski Maria Załęska The article discusses semantic evolution of the words ‘rhetoric’ and ‘ritual’, both on the level of language and metalanguage. The author shows how scientific definitions diverge from popular awareness. The author demonstrates that both terms become so-called contextual synonyms on this popular level and draws attention to the importance of distinguishing them, especially during the educational process. Marcin Mierzejewski The article presents unique argumentation that may be found in hypertext. The author does not analyse any given hypertext but analyses its instances in which the author’s intention to influence and persuade others is obvious or so much as even clearly stated. The author presents selected elements of argumentative stylistics in hypertext in opposition to linear text. Małgorzata Pietrzak The aim of the article is to show a few rhetorical strategies used currently, mainly in theatres and film industry, to show the difference between manipulation and reliable message. The author attempts to present how rhetoric may facilitate understanding various codes used by contemporary art. Dorota Oleszczak The author demonstrates the thesis that Leszek Miller’s speeches have a designed linguistic shape which enables the prime minister to use particular rhetorical strategies to create a bond with his audience, change their conduct and persuade them to accept presented argumentation. Violetta Julkowska The article demonstrates the thesis that Winston Churchill’s wartime speeches possessed great rhetorical power in the sense that they added meaning to the events in progress. The author tries to show that the speaker consciously created conditions for perlocutive effect to evoke a particular and intended reaction in the audience. At the same time, the author presents the rhetorical mechanisms which enabled the speaker to include in his speeches the main elements of his political agenda. Ewa Jarmołowicz The aim of the article is to discuss so-called ‘body language’. The author quotes some classical works on the subject, Quintilian among others, but includes the current literature on the subject as well. One of the issues brought up by the author is the communicative intention expressed through gestures. Jakub Z. Lichański The author presents an analysis of the attempts at bibliographical presentations of rhetorical issues in Poland to date, discusses the main trends in previous works and indicates necessary future studies. The article contains mainly bibliographies but it draws attention to many important synthesist works as well.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 2, 2004 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! In the Articles/Dissertationes section we present, as promised, English summaries of the articles from the first issue followed by three current articles. The first article raises the question of applying rhetoric in literary research and includes a demonstration analysis of Cyprian Norwid’s poem In Verona. The second article analyses poems by Konstandinos Kawafis, and the third investigates a drama by Eugene Ionesco. For the first time we include a section that will be recurring in this periodical: A review of selected rhetorical publications / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant. In the next few issues you will be presented with a review of the most recent rhetorical works published in Poland. In the New Publications, reviews/Librorum existimationes section we include a review of a book devoted to the influence of Chaim Perelmann’s Nouvelle Rhetorique and an excerpt from a discussion concerning the issue Rhetoric and Economy, including works by authors such as D. McCloskey, P. Arida, M.N. Rothbard. In the Current News/Recentiora section we give you information concerning our meetings and lectures on rhetoric at Warsaw University during this and the next academic year. We also include an announcement about a permanent rhetoric seminar that will commence in the 2005/2006 academic year. Finally, in the Advertisements/Nuntii section we present four issues: announcements regarding Colloquium: Rational Argument in Classical Rhetoric (June 2005), the Conference Rhetoric and Economics: An Interdisciplinary Conference (June 2005), and the Fifth Rhetorical Conference – RHETORIC AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION (February 2006) as well as the report concerning the activities of the Polish Society for Rhetoric in the years 2000-2004. We look forward to your collaboration as authors and promoters of the idea of the return to rhetoric: classical rhetoric, Aristotle’s téchne rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia. Jakub Z. Lichanski Jakub Z. Lichański Time! on whose arbitrary wing The article exemplifies applying rhetorical theory to literary research. The first part discusses the theoretical assumptions of the article and presents tools of the analysis. These include: rhetorical criticism and K. Burk’s thesis, the so-called philosophemic analysis (Schmazriedt), which is preceded by a rundown of Hans Blumenberg’s views and an analytical technique based on the application of the traditional rhetorical notions. The starting point of the discussion is a reference to Aristotle’s opinions from Poetics (Arist., poet., XIX, 1456b34-35), where he makes a distinction between thinking (diánoia) and linguistic form (léksis). The second part contains rhetorical analysis of Cyprian Norwid’s poem W Weronie (In Verona). The author shows that only rhetorical tools enable exposing completely the poet’s creative intention completely. Małgorzata Pietrzak The author shows the options of interpretation in the Polish translation of poems by one of the greatest Greek poets of the 20th century – Konstantinos Kawafis. She draws attention to the conscious use of topoi by the poet referring to the legacy of the ancient Greece. In addition, the author points out the manner in which the translation, made by one of the best Polish experts in antiquity, Zygmunt Kubiak, conditions the options of actors’ live interpretation and performance of Kawafis’s poetry.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 3-4, 2005 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! Jakub Z. Lichański discusses in his text the pattern of rhetorical reasoning and suggests the existence of a single theory of rhetoric, while Michał Kleszcz approaches issues concerning the philosophical and logical views of Chaim Perelman in reference to his theory of argumentation. Articles by Maria Załęska, Marcin Maciejewski and Ewa Rudnicka discuss connections/differences between rhetoric, linguistics, and pragmalinguistics and how rhetoric influences linguistics, e.g. in lexicography. The issue concludes with detailed two treatises discussing issues of general interest. Anna Bulanda present how rhetorical argumentation is utilised in inaugural speeches of American presidents. On the other hand, Anna Kapuścińska discusses the development of rhetorical argumentation employing ancient traditions in the early Christian poetry. The remaining papers from the conference will be published in the fifth and sixth issues of our periodical. Jakub Z. Lichanski
Jan Woleński Metalogic researches the properties of logical systems sensu stricto. Logic sensu stricto is a connection of rules in which every one can be transformed into reliable rule of inference i.e. a rule that never leads from truth to falsehood. This corresponds with the standard definition of logical as follows. In the simplest case, i.e. when one sentence follows from another, e.g. sentence B follows logically from sentence A, then it is impossible for A to be true and B false. Since the phrase “it is impossible” is vague, the precise definition is: sentence B follows from sentence A if and only if every model of sentence A is a model of sentence B as well. The notion “model” used in the definition belongs to metalogic vocabulary as well. Other metalogical notions include the following: proof, non-contradiction, axiom etc. Reasoning studied by metalogic understood in this manner coincides with deductive reasoning, i.e. reasoning, in which conclusion follows logically-formed premises. Metalogic may be understood more broadly, i.e. in a manner, which would involve studying any kind of argumentation. The simplest way of broadening the scope is to include inductive reasoning, then analogical reasoning and finally any kind of argumentation. Every argumentation may be presented as a finite sequence of sentences, in which the last one is its thesis (conclusion), and every subsequent sentence is obtained from the previous one through the use of varying means. Such extended metalogic must utilise additional notions such as justification, explanation, support, etc. The crucial aim of argumentation is convincing someone about something, the subject of persuasion possibly being a multi-million viewer television audience. To achieve the goal, the speaker utilises a multitude of persuasive means, rhetorical or eristic devices, refering to metalogical notions in a manner both reliable and unreliable. He is more reliable when stating that his thesis results from premises, has a proof, is justified or gives an explanation. The legal notion of proof provides a typical example. As a matter of fact, the court’s thesis is seldom proven deductively: – more often it is justified only empirically but is referred to as proven. Ryszard Kleszcz Chaim Perelman is the author of one of the better-known argumentation theories. His idea of argumentation theory derives from the belief that the tools supplied by logic are insufficient in order to justify in practical fields. The subject of argumentation theory is studying discourse techniques, which allow prompting / strengthening the audience’s consent concerning theses it is supposed to accept. The article discusses the main features of argumentation theory and at the same time points to its aspects that raise doubts. These doubts concern both certain philosophical assumptions, understanding of its logic and its function, and certain detailed issues pertaining to argumentation itself. Jakub Z. Lichański The aim of the article is to present two questions: the first is whether there is one or are there more theories of argumentation, and the second is what is the so-called rhetorical theory of argumentation. According to the author, the answer to the first question is obvious; there is only one theory of rhetoric, which for the purposes of the article is called the theory of Aristotle – Quintilian – Dionysius of Halicarnassus / Hermogenes. The answer to the second question is more complex: the author suggests that rhetorical theory of argumentation is generally based on probable reasoning and uses uncertain premises. However, the author concludes that the the argumentative structures themselves must be or – should be absolutely correct. Maria Załęska Linguistics and rhetoric describe argumentation on different levels of generality. Linguistics concentrates on the problem of understanding language, therefore analysing those argumentative and persuasive phenomena, which result from the complex combined interplay of semantic, syntactic, pragmatic, and cognitive mechanisms that are often subconscious for the users of any language. On the other hand, rhetoric’s main occupation is consciously structured argumentation, which is analysed on the basis of larger linguistic structures, texts in particular. Linguistic and rhetorical methods of argumentation research may provide a mutual source of inspiration and lead to better understanding of this complex issue. Marcin Maciejewski The aim of the article is a reflection on how argumentation should be perceived with references to pragmatics and speech act theory in particular. The key issue is to decide whether argumentation is a separate speech act or only an element of speaker’s more general action. Questioning the status of argumentation with the use of the framework presented above carries with it implications important to the methodology of argumentation research. There are two perspectives in the approach toward argumentation, which, in turn, reflect trends in its research. The first one concerns argumentation from the point of view of logic: the other, which is of interest to the author, is the perspective of pragmatics. The author concentrates on the attempts of the sides performing the act of argumentation to fulfil their goals, e.g. in politics – gaining support during an election convention, improving one’s image, damaging other candidate’s image etc. The author argues that these motives of external nature, regulating and shaping relationships with other people are often points of departure for acts of argumentation. They serve to provide a speaker with exact benefits. These factors may condition not only the beginning of the above-mentioned acts, but their course as well. Ewa Rudnicka The purpose of dictionaries is describing a language in a given historical moment. However, more profound investigation of dictionaries’ structure, which takes into account the history of lexicography, permits us to observe the influence of rhetorical notions and patterns on dictionaries’ composition. This article is devoted to a discussion of reflection of argumentative principles’ in dictionaries and to rhetorical inspirations behind applied methods. The microstructure of a dictionary was submitted to an in-depth analysis to expose a functional analogy between an entry’s elements and an argument’s patterns. The aim of the article is to show the influence of rhetoric based working technique on the contents and form of dictionaries and to drawing attention to the temporal variability of rhetoric’s strength of influence on lexicography. Anna Bulanda The article presents the inaugural addresses in the context of the rhetorical presidency that arose in that century. The analysis of eleven motifs shared by most of the inaugural speeches proves their dual nature. On the one hand, the motifs have permanent elements, which reflect the continuous features of American political culture and tradition. On the other hand, some aspects of a given motif are transient since presidents adjust the arguments to a particular historical moment. Anna Kapuścińska The paper provides a thematic study concerning an important but disregarded problem connected with rhetorical and ideological aspects of the topos of epic landscape in the poetry of the most important poet in the early Christianity – Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, ca. 405 C.E. The “Christian Virgil” employs the imagery of nature in its conventional, rhetorical shape as formed in pagan literature, but his purposes surpass the simple dialogue or playing with classical tradition. The analysis shows that Prudentius preferred that his reader join in the dialogue between that tradition and the evangelical system of values and notions. Thus, in the hexametric poem Hamartigenia we can observe an inversion of ancient topoi i.e. locus amoenus and locus horridus. Their typical semantics were diametrically denied as a result of a change in construction of a parabolic story about two brothers. Thanks to that, the poet managed to deliver a generous thesis concerning delusions of pagan axiology and epistemology. On the other hand, the next work entitled Cathemerinon Prudentius, ennobles the classical topic of epic landscape, and shows its universality with the help of the vision of Eden as well as with the image of Christ’s sheepfold, which are furnished with all requisites typical for Homeric – Virgilian locus amoenus. Finally, we can find the rhetorical disposition in Prudentius’ Peristephanon, in which the topic of locus horridus is the method of amplification of Christian martyrs’ heroism and torment.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 5-6, 2005 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! In the Articles/Dissertationes section we present articles prepared, which were for the conference but underwent changes under its influence. These texts are devoted mainly to in-depth analyses and often bring interesting research implications. In the A review of selected rhetorical publications/Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant section we continue a review of the most recent rhetorical works published in Poland. In the Current News/Recentiora we present a report from the 15th Conference of ISHR, which took place in Los Angeles in July 2005. Finally, in the Advertisements/Nuntii section we publish another announcement concerning the 5th Rhetorical Conference The Interdisciplinary Nature of Rhetoric, February 2006, and give information regarding a regular seminar in rhetoric, which will start in the 2005/2006 academic year. We look forward to your collaboration as authors and promoters of the idea of the return to rhetoric: classical rhetoric, Aristotle’s téchne rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia. Jakub Z. Lichanski
Barbara Bogołębska The source material for the article comes from contemporary journalism, often published in the form of books, and interviews, collections of feature articles, reportages, reviews, and genres at the border of journalism and literature such as essays. Rhetoric is understood here as a theory of persuasive communication including stylistic fields as well. This understanding of the term is immersed in the pragmatic current. In diverse kinds of public discourse aimed at effective persuasion, both illocutive and perlocutive levels of expression are important. Dorota Oleszczak The studies of libertarian culture of the 17th century, revived and renewed under the influence of already classic work by René Pintard, sparked the interest of scholars from many fields of the humanities. The libertarian movement is subject to analyses by historians, specialists in religious studies, philosophers and philologists of different specialities. Researchers in the area of rhetoric may be interested in following through the argumentative structures in libertarian writings and in anti-libertarian polemics as well, studying specific language usage, e. g. the manner in which anti-theological and political critiques were linked, or analysing intertextual relations between the writings and the sources of the libertarian thought. The text concentrates on issues connected with the last aspect of the abovementioned problems and attempts to present, in brief, the question of libertarian reading of ancient writers, the methods of reception and techniques of utilising the ancient writings as a set of arguments in their discussions with the opponents. Agnieszka Kruszyńska The article analyses ‘sanctity’ as an argumentative category. The author examines how medieval hagiography is utilised in contemporary literature, and whether it is adopted from the ancient tradition or whether it undergoes a peculiar modernisation. The author analyses works of writers such as following: Zofia Kossak (Divine Madmen), and Władysław Jan Grabski (The Tale of Jarl Bronisz, Świdnica Rhapsody). According to the author sanctity perceived as argumentative category ceases to connect with parenesis in contemporary literature; instead, it is used to present the protagonist’s motivation and shows a saint as a ‘homo viator’. Małgorzata Pietrzak Using an excerpt from Dante’s The Divine Comedy as an example together with an analysis of assignments done by the students, the author shows why certain artistic texts do not work in non-artistic circumstances. She provides strong support for the thesis that artistic texts, i.e. texts that constitute an integral part of an artistic work, e.g. characters’ monologues, are created exclusively for the purposes of a particular dramatic situation included in the text and a dramatic situation recreated onstage during an artistic performance, e.g. during a declamation contest, a school celebration performance or a soirée. Problemas arise when an artistic text is to be used in a public performance situation e.g. a political address, a sermon or a court speech. These situations despite utilising identical rhetoric components both on the level of text and tools, are alien to this kind of text and cause a situation in which an artistic text is not only impossible to perform but change its function within the public performance and the meaning of the public situation itself as well. Marek Skwara The author analyses the issue of so-called ‘non-artistic’ proofs and their employment in specific texts, in this case 17th century Polish funeral orations. In popular opinion ‘non-artistic proofs’ constitute truth and ‘artistic’ ones probability. According to the author, so far as rhetoric is concerned, both types of proofs are ‘misleading’ (mendax) i.e. they are neither true nor false (fallax) but only probable. The author believes that remembering ‘non-artistic’ means of persuasion appears to be necessary for the purposes of analysing the functional literature of the past. In Polish funeral orations of the 17th century, they were applied not only universally but skilfully as well, serving to please the audience. Ewa Nadolska-Mętel The use of the rhetorical method in drama research is the topic of this author’s consideration. This method, which is particularly intended to analyse a given dramatic text in the aspect of its persuasion, must take into consideration the complexity of the communicative situation presented in a drama. A receiver, outside of the text, does not participate directly in a message conveyed by an author, outside of the text, but by the author’s the protagonist, inside of the text, functioning in the text, who introduces various characters and reveals himself only in stage directions. It is therefore difficult to understand the intentions of author’s the protagonist who is the main transmitting tool in the text. The persuasive processes take place not only on an author’s subject- an outside of text receiver level, but also on a character (an inside of text sender)- a character (an inside of text receiver) level. The rhetorical method focuses on the following tasks: 1) the isolation of rhetoric entities on the basis of thematic, dramatic and persuasive criteria; 2) the research of persuasive process within each rhetoric entity in reference to three rhetoric fields: inventio, dispositio, and elocution; 3) the research of the persuasive process in the whole text made on the basis of the results of rhetoric analyses of entities and in accordance with the established description rules. As far as rhetoric fields are concerned, inventio is essential. It gathers all statements and helps to find the evidence and methods of persuasion. In the case of drama, action constitutes this field. It is, on the one hand, a pretext of persuasion process development but on the other hand, it is also its material, which has a persuasive power. In drama, action accumulates around certain persuasive aims, which should be shown. The aim is to make a receiver aware of a certain thesis. One thesis may be supported by various arguments which should be found and classified in a certain way. The division of argumentation methods proposed by Ch. Perelman may be useful in such classification. The rhetorical method mentioned above was employed in case of the dramatic poem titled “Adam’s death” (1929) in order to show how the method functions in critical analysis of literature. Artur Zawisza The article investigates methods of argumentation applied during the Polish committees’ live broadcasts, both by the committees’ members and the people they questioned. The author attempts to answer several questions: Is there a connection between presented argumentation and the situation of exposure in the media of the committees’ meetings? What kind of audience is the centre of argumentation? What doubts and reservations stem from employed methods of argumentation? The author finds justification for the research on methods of argumentation used during the committees’ meetings in Chaim Perelman’s work: “Examining arguments and conditions of their presentation as well is the subject of the new rhetoric which extends and strengthens Aristotle’s rhetoric”. The unclear position of parliamentary investigation committees in the Polish democratic system makes it difficult to define the type of elocution to which speeches of the parties partaking in the meetings belong. The language of particular people taking the floor does not allow for explicit categorisation with respect to kinds of speeches, e.g. political, judicial, exemplary, as classified by ancient, but still relevant, elocution textbooks. However, superficial analysis of that language allows it to be related to ‘criticism’ genre as defined in the Rhetoric to Alexander textbook by Anaxymenes of Lampsakos. This analysis is presented in the second part of the article.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 7, 2006 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! In the Articles/Dissertationes section we present the dissertations concerning all topics relating to rhetoric and science, in general – the topics relating to rhetoric and economics. The opening article by Cezar Ornatowski shows certain convergence between rhetoric and science. Mateusz Machaj and Jan Lewiński discuss in their text the history of methodology in economics, e.g. L. von Mises’ theory, and describe the content of Friedman’s and McCloskey’s methodological revolutions in light of earlier discussions on method. Jakub Z. Lichański shows connections/differences between rhetoric and economics from a rhetorical point of view. In the Translations/Interpretationes section we present an article by Prof. Heinrich E. Plett about modernisation of rhetoric. In the A review of selected rhetorical publications / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant section we continue to keep you abreast of the newest Polish academic literature relating to rhetoric or rhetoric culture in general. In the New Publications, reviews/Librorum existimationes section we present brief descriptions of books by Gershom Sholem, Roland Meynet, and Tamara E. Achwatowicz and a compilation edited by Gert Ueding. In the Current News/Recentiora section we will say a few words about the late Professor Mirosław Korolko and give some information about Loci communes in Polish Literature (15th-18th c.) the conference held in Pobierowo in November, 2006. Finally, in the Advertisements/Nuntii section we publish another announcement concerning the 6th Rhetorical Conference, Rhetoric and Religion scheduled in September/October 2007, and give information regarding a regular seminar in rhetoric, which will be available in the 2006/2007 academic year, and regarding the next issues of our periodical. We will give information about the authors of the current issue of our periodical. We anticipate your collaboration as authors and promoters of the idea of the return to rhetoric: classical rhetoric, Aristotle’s téchne rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia. Jakub Z. Lichanski
Cezar M. Ornatowski Until recently, the notion of a “rhetoric of science” may have appeared oxymoronic. Traditional conceps of science as the embodiment of disinterested, objective knowledge of nature, coupled with perceptions of rhetoric as empty verbiage, subterfuge, or stylistic embellishment made science and rhetoric appear entirely at odds. The apparent divorce goes back to the seventeenth century, when the charter of the Royal Society called for members “to separate the knowledge of Nature from the colors of Rhetorick, the devices of Fancy, or the delightful deceit of Fables,” and to “reject all the amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style: to return to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men deliver’d so many things, almost in an equal number of words … bringing all things as near the Mathematical plainness as they can …” (Sprat, 62). However, recent developments in the history of science (especially the work of Thomas Kuhn), sociology of science, and sociology of scientific knowledge, coupled with conceptions of rhetoric more suitable to scientific discourse, have led to a gradual reconceptualization of the relationship between science and rhetoric. As a result, there appears to be now, at least among rhetoricians, “general agreement that science is indeed a rhetorical enterprise” (Selzer 6). There is less agreement, however, on the extent to which science is indeed rhetorical, or even on the exact nature of science’s involvement with rhetoric. Beginning in the mid-1970s, and intensifying in the 1980s, work in what eventually came to be known as the rhetoric of science has advanced a variety of rhetorical approaches to science. These approaches assumed different definitions of rhetoric and focused on different aspects of science (for a general critique of these approaches, see Gaonkar). As a result, a variety of conceptions of “rhetoric of science” have been advanced, from relatively commonsensical if not downright tautological, focusing on relatively superficial aspects of the use of language in science writing, to radically anti-empiricist, challenging the very foundations of traditional views of science and scientific knowledge. The following review outlines the major theoretical premises underlying these approaches and then summarizes some major approaches representative of the major issues and debates involved in rhetoric of science today. Mateusz Machaj, Jan Lewiński The article summarizes the history of economic methodology. We start from basic axioms about the empirical research, and then follow with the analysis of applied methodology. We point to the most important breakthroughs in the history of economic thought in this field. The second section describes the Historical School’s attack and its significance for policy conclusions. The third section describes Mises’ methodology; Mises was one of the first economists to deal exclusively with the problem of a proper method. At the end of this section we relate Mises’ work to Robbins’ famous book on the nature of economic science. The next section emphasizes two distinct types of abstractions (realistic and idealist). In the last two sections we describe the content of Friedman’s and McCloskey’s methodological revolutions in light of preceding discussions on method. Jakub Z. Lichański RHETORIC AND ECONOMY – THE FIELD OF DISPUTES AND APPLICATIONS. SUBMISSIONS FOR DISCUSSION In 1983 two studies were published: 1) The Rhetoric of Economics by Donald McCloskey and 2) A História do Pensamento Econômico como Teoria e Retórica by Persio Arida. Since that time there has been a continuing discussion in the economic and philosophical / philological sciences, on the one hand about the validity and reasonableness in this kind of research, e.g. Murray N. Rothbard, Stanisław Anderski, Alan Sokal, Jean Bricmont, and on the other hand, – there are studies in which the authors point out links between these sciences, e.g. Persio Arida, Paulo Gal. However, in the article entitled In Defence of Extreme Rationalism: Thoughts on Donald McCloskey’s „The Rhetoric of Economics” (The Review of Austrian Economics, n0 3), Hans-Hermann Hoppe pays attention to generalizations in The Rhetoric of Economics, which treats extremely different matters in the same way, e.g. economy and literary criticism; the law of demand is persuasive or non-persuasive at the same time, as a poem by Keats, etc. The dispute is over the transferability of ideas from one domain of sciences to another; this also affects the language used to explain issues a given domain of science.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 8-9, 2007 Table of Contents
Editorial Religion and religious discourse played important and varying roles in the political transformations in the countries of the former Soviet bloc, as well as in Russia itself. In each country, religious discourse came from different sources and historical traditions; it also intersected in diverse ways with the emerging discourses of democracy, sovereignty, civil society, and national identity. In each country, religion remains somewhat of a problem, both in terms of the relationship between church and state, or some segments of the priesthood and the authorities, during the past regime and in terms of the relationship between religion and politics and church and state in the new, democratic present. The papers presented below explore these intersections and problems in the specific contexts of the transformations in Poland, Russia, Romania, and Lithuania, focusing on how religious language has been used to articulate, pursue, and contest political agendas and action. The authors thus focus, from different angles and in different ways, on the relationships between religion and politics from a rhetorical perspective. Originally, the papers formed a panel at the 16th conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, on the theme of “rhetoric and religion”, held in Strasbourg, France, on July 24-28, 2007. The aim of the panel was to examine the intersections between religious rhetoric and politics, as well as religious rhetoric and the specificity of the historical context, through the case studies explored in each paper. The papers have been revised and expanded to form the special section of Forum Artis Rhetoricae. Cezar M. Ornatowski and Jakub Z. Lichanski (Editor in chief)
Cezar M. Ornatowski Soon after the Pope, John Paul II, expressed the wish to visit his native Poland in 1979, a government-Church Joint Commission was created plan the visit. Over the course of the following decade, the negotiations of the Commission evolved from confrontational struggles over the Pope’s John Paul II every word and deed, to surprisingly candid exchanges of views on every aspect of national life and international policy as both parties become increasingly aware of the literally “history-making” potential, not only of papal visits as such but of the Commission’s own deliberations and decisions. After the 1983 visit, deliberations of the Commission became an established form for working contacts between the communist authorities, the Polish Church, and the Vatican. By 1987, as mutual interests became better understood and a measure of trust between the participants began to develop, papal-visit-oriented tactical gamesmanship evolved into a strategic partnership which was unprecedented in the Eastern bloc, an experiment in shared decision-making and a de facto informal form of power sharing that played a significant role in preparing the ground for the political breakthrough of 1989. Based on an analysis of the transcripts of the Joint Commission negotiations, the paper will explore the shifting and intersecting lines of engagement between religion and politics accompanying what a secret 1983 politburo memo called “a struggle for the hearts and minds of the Polish people” between the Church and the state. The analysis reveals the politics behind religious rhetoric in a specific historic context and thus contributes to an understanding of the complex relationship between historic context and religious rhetoric more generally. Noemi Marin The Romanian revolution started in Timisoara, on Dec. 15, 1989, with a clash between Ceausescu’s militia men and citizens meeting to exercise their right to freedom of religion. The Romanian Communist Party’s politics on religious discourse maintained religious rhetoric outside of the public sphere for over 45 years. The Romanian revolution of 1989 provoked officials to open up the public sphere in order to recover the legitimacy of religious discourse within Romanian national discourse. This essay captures the rhetorical and historical moment when official Romanian discourse engaged religion along with politics and legitimacy as part of rhetorical appeals to recreate national identity. Accordingly, the paper examines the public rhetoric of Romanian revolution along with overt and subtle revisionist strategies to reintroduce religious discourse as a political redemptive action, publicly reinstating religion within the framework of Romanian national rhetoric. Hence, the essay analyzes how presidential and official discourse along with mainstream news publications incorporates private and public instances of religious rhetoric in postrevolution Romania in order to reconnect the citizens’ fight for democracy with legitimate articulation of religious freedom necessary for a unifying rhetoric of post-communist national identity. Ekaterina Haskins Mikhail Gorbachev policy of “perestroika” (restructuring) and “glasnost” (openness), begun as reforms within the upper echelons of the Communist Party in the mid-eighties, helped to erode the officially fostered piety for the Communist party’s version of the Soviet history and national identity. Previously confined to underground publications and literary accounts of the Stalin era published in the West, information about the state’s crimes against its citizens began to appear in non-Russian mainstream magazines and newspapers. Increased political pluralism and expansion of religious freedom in the years of perestroika created opportunities for creative appropriation of the nation’s forgotten cultural heritage. This essay explores how Russian Orthodox spirituality and its symbolism, considered taboo under the Soviet regime, were used to deal with the Soviet trauma. By examining a range of discourses, including films, novels, journalistic essays, and public demonstrations, this essay seeks top describe a variety of different and often conflicting rhetorical approaches to confronting the Soviet past. Irena Buckley Définiton du domaine: la rhétorique chrétienne. Depuis l’apparition des premiers livres, écrits dans la langue natale (XVIe siècle), la topique chrétienne a commancé à fonctionner dans le discours public lithuanien. Les idées religieuses et celles de l’Etat, du peuple étaient toujours très proches. Au XIXe siècle on discute du dilemme de Dieu ou de la Patrie; pendant les premières décennies du XXe siècle la rhétorique du néo-catholicisme se forme. A la fin du XXe siècle, l’époque post-soviétique, apparaissent plus de signes de la culture chrétienne qui étaient restreints pendant la période soviétique. Enonce du problème. Il existe des périodes où la rhétorique religieuse a une grande importance dans la vie publique de la société. La topique, élborée par les rhéteurs chrétiene, s’inscrit dans différents discours laics. Nous nous limiterons à la topique chrétienne, qui est importante pour montrer les relations avec le peuple et avec les valeurs nationales. C’est la topique du bapteme, la topique de messianisme (la Lithuanie des croix) et la topique «La Lithuanie, terre de la Vierge Marie». notre but sera d’étudier comment cette topique garde la tradition et les liens avec les traitements ethnocultureles. Nous montrerons aussi quels changements cette topique a subis dans la vie politique, sociale et culturelle de la Lithuanie contemporaine; nous analyserons les valeurs que rfletent ces changements et quels sont les cas de rhétorique pseudo-chrétienne. Résumé des étapes de l’argumentation. Tout d’abord nous examinerons comment cette topique est apparue et s’est développée. Par la suite, nous verrons son évolution dans des textes qui représentent les genres rhétorique: judiciaire, delibératif et épidictique. Résultats et gains scientifiques. Cet usage de la rhétorique chrétienne représente la rhétorique comme pratique sociale. Dans le discours public lithuanien contemporain, un tel usage est double. Ainsi, la rhétorique chrétienne aide à montrer la particularité du chemin historique du peuple, et on l’emploie quand on veut souligner le pathos du destinateur. Mais parfois, la rhétorique du sublime chrétien est diminuée, car les métaphores solennelles sont remplacées par l’ironie. Jakub Z. Lichański Based on an analysis of the sermons of different priests the Polish Church in the years 1981-1989, i.e. Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński, the Reverend Jerzy Popiełuszko, and Most Reverend Bronisław Dembowski, Bishop of Włocławek, the paper explores the shifting and intersecting lines of engagement between religion and politics, accompanying the Polish version of the “theology of liberation”. The analysis reveals the politics and “fight of democracy” behind religious rhetoric in a specific historic context during the years 1981-1989 and thus contributes to an understanding of the complex relationship between historic context and religious rhetoric more generally.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 10-11, 2007 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! In the A review of selected rhetorical publications/Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant section we continue to keep you abreast of the newest Polish academic literature relating to rhetoric or rhetoric culture in general. In the Advertisements/Nuntii section we publish information concerning a regular seminar in rhetoric, which will be available in the academic year of 2007/2008. We anticipate your collaboration as authors and promoters of the idea of the return to rhetoric: classical rhetoric, Aristotle’s techné rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia. Please send the texts to the following addresses: postmaster@lichanscy.atomnet.pl or m.zaleska@uw.edu.pl. Instructions for the authors can be found on the last page. Jakub Z. Lichanski
Dorota Heck This paper presents the goal and the profit to be derived from the study of individual rhetoric instead of normative stylistics in contemporary literary studies in Poland. The author reviews the concepts of rhetoric and stylistics. In addition, the critical analysis of the relationship between these concepts and that of the pragmatics of a scholarly research is presented. The notion of ‘rhetoric’ and the notion of ‘stylistics’ are examined in particular. For the last thirty years many scholars have been against randomly employing the terms ‘rhetoric’ and ‘stylistics’. Rhetoric has been mainly connected with oral, while stylistics with written language. While ‘rhetorical’ means figurative, e.g. full of metaphors, ‘stylistically correct’ means communicative but impersonal, slightly dull. Moreover, rhetoric has been influential among scholars who investigate literature of the Renaissance, the Baroque, and others periods, while stylistics has often been regarded as a domain of practical exercises even in elementary school. As a result, it would be profitable to speak about the rhetoric of the best scholarly writing on literary history or theory, rather than about its style. Despite the excessive generality and imprecision to be found in the observation of and scholarly research dealing with such a topic, these investigations are nevertheless important for literary education. At universities in Poland and abroad, e.g. in the US, there are some attempts to teach rhetoric. The rhetorical education curriculum in faculties of modern languages is in some cases connected with writing classes. In conclusion, the author expresses her hope for a greater interest in the rhetorical relationship among code, context and scholarly text. Leszek Drong This essay undertakes to define what constitutes the rhetorical dimension of interpretation by taking as its starting point the discipline of literary studies, which not only relies on academic discourse, but also explores other texts with regard to their rhetoric. Stanley Fish’s contributions are construed as painting a picture of hermeneutics marked by an involvement in a performative context, which entails exerting an influence on audiences and, more generally, on the social environment. Yet, the rhetorical mechanisms which are at work in interpretation cannot undermine its representational dimension, is responsible for rendering the true meaning of the text being explicated. Therefore, a compromise may be reached by consciously and deliberately making use of representational tropes and figures to affect the reader/listener’s reception of interpretive claims, that is by using the representational dimension of interpretation as an element of its rhetoric. Anna Bendrat Political communication is a dynamically developing branch of communication studies in the United States. Its roots can be traced to Aristotle’s classical works about politics and rhetoric, but as an academic discipline, it began to emerging in the 1950s. Political communication represents a synthesis of interdisciplinary research on the channels of communication carrying political messages to various recipients in the society. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the major thrusts of research and theory in contemporary political communication studies. The first part focuses on definitions of the discipline and its thematic variety. The second part outlines the most important research traditions, that guided the field at its beginnings: 1) rhetorical analysis of public political discourse, 2) political propaganda study during the periods of post-World War I to post-World War II, 3) voting studies in the US, 4) the study of mass media effects, and 5) the media agenda-setting process. Finally, the article delineates theoretical underpinnings of political communication studies drawn largely from social sciences and humanities, which are divided into two groups: (1) information processing theories and (2) media impact theories. Beata Gaj The article is addresses with the correlation between science and rhetoric at the beginning of the modern era confronted with the present communication crisis in the transmission of scientific research eventuating in restricting its availability. Several New Latin texts written in the 17th century in Silesia are refeenced in the article, which concerns the theory of rhetoric, law, history, geometry, chemistry and medicine. Expressions like “chemical kisses”, interspersed in a scientific treatise by a 17th century Silesian erudite Johannes Burg, who was derided for allegedly unscientific approach, seem to be close to the linguistic tendencies of modern scientists, e.g. “Selfish DNA” by Francis Crick, who apply proven rhetorical methods, though are often not aware of it; the most common are so called imagines agentes – ‘examples not easily forgettable’. Tadeusz Sierotowicz The Assayer of Galileo Galilei is a classic of Italian literature. This is not only because of its formal qualities – in fact The Assayer belongs to the most important current of Italian literature, which aims at drawing the map of what people know and what they do not know (I. Calvino). The Assayer was written in the context of the discussion on comets, and responds, word by word, to the Libra astronomica ac philosophica written by Orazio Grassi, but published under the pseudonym of Lothario Sarsi. Many authors have commented on this book, crucial for the methodology of modern science, and Galileo’s rhetoric was always interpreted as one of the most important components of the opera. From the formal, i.e. rhetorical, point of view The Assayer is an example of judicial, defensive speech. Nevertheless, one can notice the presence of the epideictic speech in the book, as well. The epideictic speech praises the methodological values appropriate to the Copernican vision of the universe, and blames those involved in the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic approaches. The Assayer contains a very famous rhetorical period, – the one ending with proverbial “aut Caesar aut nihil” – in which the internal connection between both types of speeches can be analyzed. The rhetorical exercise developed in the present essay tries to analyze the complex node of these speeches in the abovementioned fragment. Maria Załęska The paper presents the rhetorical refutatio in relation to falsification, which, according to Popper and his followers, permits us to distinguish science from other forms of knowledge. Three partly interrelated ways of refutatio are discussed: (1) a refutatio on logical grounds, e.g. by pointing out some logical contradictions in the previous approaches; (2) a refutatio on empirical grounds, i.e. by presenting new factual evidence which disconfirms the previous descriptions; and (3) a refutatio on theoretical grounds, i.e. by formulating a new theory regarded as better than the competing ones. The three forms of refutatio and corresponding falsification procedures differ by their strength. The paper shows that rhetorical refutatio applied in antiquity was based on a simpler vision of reality, while the procedures of falsification in science take into account a more complex approach to reality, made problematic both by the postmodern culture and by science itself. Małgorzata Jakóbczyk The goal of the present article is to compare the use of argument from the authority in everyday communication and in the academic discourse on the basis of press advertisements and the online essays on didactics and practical applications of mathematics respectively. Therefore, it is guided by the argumentation theory explaining the differences between argument and proof as well as defining the induction-based ipsedixitism, is functioning can be deduced from the social influence of the authorities symbolized by uniforms such as a doctor’s gown. The analysis itself determines that appealing to experience and high recognition is accurate and permissible only in the mathematical corpus, as the quoted experts pertain to the case even if they are not mathematicians, i.e. they work in the fields of banking, medicine or statistics, in which mathematical theories are applied. Conversely, the advertising extracts resort to the emblems of authority rather than to the authorities themselves, using verbal means of persuasion such as technical language and English catchphrases/temporal references. The former one depicts producers and potential users of the products as professionals whose abilities help solving any problem; the latter guarantees the quality of goods by providing proof of their worldwide long use. Nevertheless, both advertisers and academics apply the argument from the authority in order to judge the raised points in a positive manner, hence to convince their recipients. Bogusława Grabiec The article deals with the scientification of the language of advertisements of facial beauty products and its influence on the persuasiveness of the message. The forty-nine advertisements analyzed in the paper have been published in Polish women’s magazines from June to December 2006. The advertisements taken into account use supposedly scientific language as a persuasive strategy in order to increase the credibility of the message through the appeal to the prestige of science. The texts indeed seem scientifically accurate due to detailed descriptions of ingredients of the products and the use of numbers, such as percentages, especially while quoting the results of tests, experiments and surveys. The advertisements appear very professional thanks to both the biological or medical terminology and to the opinions of the authorities in the matter. In this way the superficial characteristics of the scientific language are used as a rhetorical resource.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 12-13, 2008 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! This special issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of the famous book by Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca. In the Research papers/Dissertationes section contains contributions by Marian Dobrosielski, Ryszard Kleszcz, Jakub Z. Lichański and Maria Załęska who discuss different aspects of the New Rhetoric approach. In the Review of selected rhetorical publications / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant section we present a cumulative bibliography of the newest Polish publications relating to rhetoric or rhetoric culture in general. The New Publications reviews/Librorum existimationes section contains some brief descriptions and reviews of books concerning rhetoric. Finally, Advertisements/Nuntii section announces two conferences organised or co-organised by the Polish Society for Rhetoric in 2009. It presents also topics scheduled for the next issues of the periodical and informs about a seminar concerning rhetoric organised in the 2008/2009 academic year. The editorial board invites rhetoricians and other specialists to submit contributions concerning rhetoric and its interrelations with other research fields. We anticipate collaboration of Authors interested in classical rhetoric, based on Aristotle’s téchne rhetoriké and Plato’s notion of kalokagathia, as well as in modern developments and applications of rhetoric. For the editorial board
Jakub Z. Lichański The author recapitulates the main lines of research on Chaim Perelman’s intellectual contribution and their impact on the modern approaches to rhetoric. According to Perelman, rhetoric is understood of as a theory of argumentation exploring especially the quasi-logical nature of proofs. Another topic of Perelman’s research is the problem of audience which should be appropriately identified in order to achieve the desired persuasive effect. In his paper the author underscores that the existing Polish research about Perelman’s contribution concerns mainly the legal issues and, to a certain extent, the logical and philosophical topics. However, the available Polish studies are still compared with the abundant English and American research. Marian Dobrosielski The following text, originally published in 1957, was the first information in Poland about the works of Chaim Perelman. In this article, the author discusses the book by Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, Rhétorique et philosophie, 1952, and Perelman’s concepts of rhetoric. In his discussion, the author defends the traditional opinion that only logic, in Kotarbiński’s and Lvov-Warsaw Logical School view, assures the best scientific knowledge. Dobrosielski’s views, rather controversial from the contemporary perspective, illustrate eloquently that Perelman’s concept of rhetoric was a great intellectual challenge in the midst of the twentieth century. Maria Załęska While the argumentation research by Perelman is widely discussed, the individual contributions by Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, the co-author of the Traité de l’argumentation. La nouvelle rhétorique, are far less known. The paper presents the original developments of the New Rhetoric as applied by Olbrechts-Tyteca to the theory of comism in her monography Le comique du discours. The author underscores the deeply rhetorical nature of discoursive comism and describes its manifestations according to the argumentative schemata of the New Rhetoric. The originality of Olbrechts-Tyteca’s contribution consists of highlighting the seemingly quite different phenomena, i.e. argumentation and comism, through a unified framework of the New Rhetoric. Such a confrontation allows for refining the original New Rhetoric distinctions and for capturing the subtle mechanisms responsible for the comic effects.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 14-15, 2008 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers, The first group of articles analyzes the theoretical background of the relationship between rhetoric and historiography. Jakub Z. Lichanski describes the historical perspective of this relationship. Maria Załęska presents an approach toward metahistory rooted in the general theory of metatexts. Leszek Drong grounds his argument on historical metafiction in Dionysian rhetoric. The article by Beata Gaj presents the methodology of history and the history of methodology on the basis of rhetorical strategies used in old Silesia. The second group of articles focuses on argumentative strategies which explicitly refer to history. Agnieszka Kampka proposes the typology of arguments derived from history in the discourse of political parties in Poland. The analysis by Agnieszka Kuś offers a similar insight using the example of an Italian separatist movement. The third group explores the rhetoric of political speeches with historical significance. Maria Barłowska describes rhetorical strategies in Polish oratory of the 17th century. Anna Bendrat’s analysis of the speeches by President Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush shows the ways in which the tropes of evil appear in the discourse of international relations. Marta Rzepecka enclose the failure of President Nixon’s farewell address from the rhetorical point of view. Agnieszka Kruszyńska offers a detailed analysis of a significant speech by Andrzej Szczypiorski. The last group of articles dwells on the use of history in mass media. Barbara Bogołębska focuses on the genre of contemporary historical documentary, and Krzysztof Grzegorzewski follows the TV debates devoted to controversial topics referring to recent history of Poland. In the Review of selected rhetorical publication / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant and New Publications reviews/Librorum existimationes sections, you will also find the part of the rhetorical bibliography as well as the reviews of three recently published books on rhetoric: J. Wasilewski, A. Skibiński Prowadzeni słowami. Retoryka motywacji w komunikacji publicznej, M. Barłowska, A. Budzyńska-Daca, P. Wilczek, Retoryka, and T. Sierotowicz, Od metodycznej polemiki do polemiki metodologicznej. Our journal invites Authors to submit articles pertaining to the broad subject of rhetoric. The themes of the forthcoming issues as well as the dates of the conferences organized by Polish Rhetorical Society can be found on our website www.retoryka.edu.pl Jakub Z. Lichanski
Jakub Z. Lichański Aliud est enim facta narrare, aliud docere facienda. The point of departure for the present deliberations is the thesis that the relationship between rhetoric and historiography is very strong. In further comments I will concentrate on formal issues; the question of history’s methodology and historiosophic concepts (Croce 1927; Vismara 1924; Problemi storici e orientamenti storiografici, 1942; Holborn 1949, 3–13; Bouvier–Ajam 1970) are outside my sphere of interest. Above all, I will generalise my remarks concerning the need to analyse historiography in the light of rhetoric theory – rhetoric is defined here as the theory of writing. The source of problems plaguing the contemporary historiography theorists lies in the unconscious following of the tradition of Peter Ramus rhetoric. I have pointed to this ‘defect’ of contemporary thinking in the analysis of so-called ‘rhetorical nature’ problem (Lichański 2006, 251-266). The analysis moves away from rhetoric’s view issues, from the spheres of inventio and dispositio and beyond rhetoric, removing the whole logical analysis of a how text ends, as matter of fact, in reducing rhetoric to the issue of effective verbal shape of a text (Lichański 2007, I.45). Thus, we enter the sphere of tropes indicated by White: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony (White 1973; Markiewicz 2006, 5-28). However, these are either a consequence of the historian’s assumed e.g. rules of argumentation of his work’s thesis, or intended goals he wishes to reach. Therefore, in my opinion, the problem pointed out by researchers really exists; however it is a consequence of rejection of the thesis that historiography and rhetoric have been and still are closely connected. Maria Załęska The paper discusses the relationship between traditional rhetoric and its peculiar applications within models of metahistory. First, a general framework of the meta-texts is outlined, in order to collocate metahistory with respect to other types of meta-texts. Next, some metahistorical models are discussed, focusing especially on White’s theory. Finally, some peculiarities of rhetoric as applied to the construction of metahistorical models are pointed out. The analysis underscores differences in the ways of understanding the inventio and elocutio within traditional rhetoric and within metahistorical models. Leszek Drong Taking Salman Rushdie’s writings as a start its point of departure, this essay focuses on the interconnections and interactions among fiction, history and rhetoric. Rushdie’s novels constitute an illustration of historiographic metafiction, which highlights the key aspects of the status of historical representation, the role of rhetoric in producing a vision of the past as well as the condition of historiography as a science. By analyzing Hayden White’s, Franklin Ankersmit’s, Friedrich Nietzsche’s, and Michel Foucault’s views, we are led to the conclusion that the traditional approaches to history require substantial revision. That is related to the epistemological elevation of the so-called truth effect, which literary fictions are capable of producing. Technically, what produces this effect is Dyonisian rhetoric, which programmatically renounces any pretence to scientificity, objectivism, and even realism. This kind of rhetoric relies on the strategies characteristic of fiction, including, as is the case with Rushdie’s writings, magic realism, which is responsible for creating a far more compelling vision of history than those offered by factual, carefully documented chronicles of the past. Beata Gaj Descriptions of concepts and events connected with Silesia may serve as an example of the employment of argumentative strategy to justify one-sided historical interpretation. Biographical entries, biographies, and monographs involved in local history written in 16th-18th century Silesia, in Latin, the common language of residents of different nationalities, stand out due to certain level of neutrality, which is perceivable despite the fact that the texts present subjective views. Silesian New-Latin texts often contain, from the historical perspective, original insights into discussed subject matter and many curiosities, e.g. in “Learned Maidens’ and Women’s Catalogue” by Martin of Baldhofen, early 17th century, or in “Gout’s History” of Johannes de Hahn, mid. 18th century. Agnieszka Kampka The article tries to answer the question about what influences the way politicians and political parties perceive and talk about the history. Parliamentary debates, that have been analyzed, indicate three main strategies used by Polish parliamentary deputies to talk about the past. The first strategy is based on the reference to age-old traditions connected with creation of the peasant movement and is mainly used by PSL representatives. Politicians, who grew up from Solidarity Movement, use the strategy of both, creating the myth of establishing the third RP, based on August 1980, and, on the other side, impeaching political opponents with their biographies from PRL. The third strategy is represented by post-communists and is based on the conflict between pragmatic concentration of the energy for the current needs and unnecessary discussions about the past. The empirical research over Polish political elites suggests that those three strategies should be treated more as an expression of political parties’ identity than marketing manipulation. Agnieszka Kuś The following article focuses on the historical argumentations used by the Northern Italian separatists’ group called Veneto Serenissimo Governo (VSG). The VSG was founded in 1987, and its aim is to gain independence for the Italian provinces once under the Venetians’ government. The text addresses the rhetorical dimension of the organisation’s legitimisation strategies in the first ten years of its existence. Maria Barłowska Andrzej Moskorzowski, a son of the famous Arian religious polemisticist, Hieronim Moskorzowski, was a well-known orator in the 17th century. His speeches were, however, preserved only in the manuscripts and consequently have been forgotten in the history of Polish oratory. The author conducted an extensive investigation into the manuscripts and collected 54 of Moskorzowski’s orations, including 18 political ones among. The observation into what type of the manuscripts exist and how Moskorzowski’s speeches were copied leads to the conclusion that he was generally known as a political orator. Detailed examination of his three political orations nomine dissidentium in religione presents his arguments as a part of the polemical discourse about the Warsaw confederation. Historical documents and opinions of Polish nobility about themselves play the main role in his argument. The orator often reminds his audience of the unity and the equality of the liberal Polish nobility, but at the same time his discourse reveals a political isolation of Arians. Consequently, the most popular Moskorzowski’s speeches are not connected with religious, polemical issues. They were known partially, as a valued rhetorical models, full of useful historical examples, sententious remarks and opinions about state, community, law, morality and the Polish people. The author draws the conclusion that the history in the political speeches is always taken from the contemporary point of view. Anna Bendrat According to Dana L. Cloud, the concept of evil is generated by rhetoric in specific historical moments out of particular motives and interests. The tropes of good and evil with their biblical roots are deeply embedded in American political discourse referring to foreign relations during the war. The aim of this paper is to analyze and draw analogies among three historically significant speeches, in which Presidents Reagan and Bush set out aggressive foreign policy toward the enemies of democracy during the Cold War and the War on Terror. Reagan’s speeches to the British House of Commons in London, 1982, and to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, 1983, referred more or less directly to the “Evil Empire,” symbolizing the former Soviet Union. Twenty years later George W. Bush, in his 2002 State of the Union Address, used the term “Axis of Evil” to describe Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, whom he accused of sponsoring terrorism and keeping weapons of mass destruction. This kind of “good and evil” rhetoric is said to operate on Machiavellian license, which assumes that if evil exploits goodness, the governments must be prepared to retaliate. The paper closely examines how Reagan’s East-West confrontation and Bush’s anti-terrorist struggle were relocated from the secular world to the spiritual scheme of a battle between good and evil. By giving the religious colouring to their foreign policy agenda, the Presidents referred back to the American tradition of liberal exceptionalism, presenting the Americans as a “chosen people” led by a “special providence” to spread the democratic institutions and values. Marta Rzepecka Persuasion is all about how people influence others. Its aim is to change others’ thinking, behavior and decisions. Most people, however, do not realize that they are persuaded and manipulated. For instance, today’s media of mass communication rely chiefly on persuasion while pretending to merely respond to the needs and expectations of the public. In a sense, then, they function in ways analogous to political institutions that also use strategies of persuasion to achieve their aims. In the United States, this analogy is evident when one looks at the office of the President’s, for his effectiveness in wielding power as the head of state and chief administrator largely depends on his persuasive skills. Most of the President’s public appearances are carefully planned and constructed so as to achieve the desired goal. His official statements are considered successful when they stimulate public support for his political agenda, while those that are inadequate meet with wide public disapproval. Richard Nixon’s resignation speech is one of the historic addresses that illustrate the importance of persuasive skills while executing the nation’s highest office. This essay will present the goals of the speech and the strategies that the President used to achieve his objectives. It will also identify the factors that affected the public’s, largely negative, reception of the address and explain why the techniques used in the speech failed to bring the desired effect. Agnieszka Kruszyńska The speech by Andrzej Szczypiorski delivered in one of Warsaw’s churches in 1986, and later published in the book Z notatnika stanu rzeczy, refers to the relations between the Poles and the Jews. What makes the speech especially interesting is the strategy of argumentation. The writer is not biased, and does not try to glorify or accuse either of the two nations. In his speech, Szczypiorski tries to reach a different goal; he wants to explain to the audience the very complicated nature of Polish-Jewish relations. The history in the speech becomes the vision made by use of the figures of speech; it is dialogical, not stable and fixed. The most characteristic feature of Szczypiorski’s rhetorical strategy is the avoidance of calls for reconciliation. Yet, his text’s most visible shortcoming is the imprecise thesis formulation. Barbara Bogołębska Najlepsze, co nam daje historia, to entuzjazm, który ona wywołuje The analysis focuses on a series of reports “Zdarzyło się dzisiaj” (It has happened today) by Włodzimierz Kalicki. The reports describe selected historical events, since ancient times until relatively recent ones; they reconstruct and rediscover some barely known facts. The author applies a range of rhetorical strategies to create an atmosphere of tension and describe the drama and tragedy of the events. The use of praesens historicum, rhetorical tropes and subtle lexical choices in presenting the historical events and documents contribute to creatin the atmosphere of tension and mystery. Krzysztof Grzegorzewski What is the role of the rhetorical creativity in public historical discussion in Poland and where exactly are the historical arguments? The author analyses rhetoric of the well-known politicians and historians, discussing about a historical publication SB contra Lech Wałęsa – a biographic suplement by Piotr Gontarczyk and Sławomir Cenckiewicz. Discussion about this publication and about the role of Lech Wałęsa in Polish history took place in selected TV-programs, broadcasted in similar period of time, but in different TV-stations. Analysis constitutes an attempt to codify of all the stylistic and linguistic tricks and rhetorical mechanisms of content and also valuation of its use to persuade and even manipulate people.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 16-17, 2009 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! The first article, by Jarosław Nowaszczuk examines Rhetoric of Philip Kallimach Buonaccorsi and describes the way the Italian theorist looks at the text structure. The author presents Kallimach’s theory against a broader background and indicates how it applies the tradition of Greek and Roman rhetoric. The researcher’s broad analysis significantly supplements the previous findings about Kallimach’s work. The second article by Jakub Z. Lichański presents the considerations of Polish rhetorical theorists about loci communes. The author posits that, until the end of the 18th century, these issues, lacked accuracy and precision, mainly in theory. In the Review of selected rhetorical publication / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad art rhetoricam spectant section the editors present the subsequent part of the rhetorical bibliography. In the New Publications reviews / Librorum existimationes section we have provided four reviews of recently published books on rhetoric, re-release of the Rhetorical Compendium by Mikołaj Krzysztof Chalecki; Histoire de la rhétorique dans l’Europe moderne, the collective work edited by Marc Fumaroli; the study by Wayne C. Booth Rhetoric of Rhetoric; and the collective work of Barbara Sobczak and Halina Zgółkowa, Retoryka i etyka). In the News/Recentiora section you will find a report from the conference on rhetoric held at the Jagiellonian University on 16-17 March 2009 . Our journal invites Authors to submit articles pertaining to the broad subject of rhetoric. The themes of the forthcoming issues, as well as the dates of the conferences organized by Polish Rhetorical Society, can be found on our website www.retoryka.edu.pl Jakub Z. Lichanski
Ks. dr Jarosław Nowaszczuk Die „Rhetorik“ von Philipp Buonaccorsi, oder auch, wie er sich selbst nannte – Callimachus (Callimachus Experiens), wurde jahrelang verloren geglaubt. Man ging davon aus, dass das wahrscheinlich im Jahre 1477 entstandene Manuskript, bei dem Brand im Haus des Autoren vernichtet wurde. Mit großem Staunen wurde deswegen die Entdeckung Professors Kazimierz Kumaniecki aufgenommen, der die Abhandlung in einer unbedeutenden Bibliothek, Mitte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, fand. Auf diese Weise gelang das Werk des von der Kultur der Antike begeisterten Meisters der Renaissance in unsere Gegenwart. In seinem Werk schenkt Callimachus eine besondere Aufmerksamkeit der Komposition einer öffentlichen Rede. Dieses Thema nimmt auch die zentrale Stellung in der Abhandlung an. Der Autor zählt sechs Teile einer Rede auf: Einleitung, Erzählung, Gliederung, Beweisführung, Wiederlegung der gegnerischen Argumente und Redeschluss. Bei der Benennung der einzelnen Teile verwendet Callimachus die Termini, die sich in der Römischen Rhetorikschule etabliert haben. Er stellt die innere Struktur der einzelnen Teile vor, behandelt ihre verschiedenen Verwendungsmöglichkeiten und zeichnet ihre Vor- und Nachteile auf. Die ganze Abhandlung basiert auf Thesen, die in den Werken von antiken Autoren zu finden sind. Die Ähnlichkeiten betreffen nicht nur die theoretischen Feststellungen, es handelt sich oft um wortgetreue Zitate aus den Werken der Vorgänger. Die im ganzen Werk verwendete Terminologie, die behandelten Themen und die Art ihrer Darstellung deuten auf eine enge Beziehung zu Cornificius. Buonaccorsi bezieht sich auch gerne auf Cicero. Die Werke anderer Autoren, obwohl sie als Basis für manche Thesen dienten, scheinen hier weniger bedeutend. Die tiefe Verwurzelung in dem Gedankengut der Antike zeigt sich nicht nur auf der formellen Ebene, sondern auch in der Konzeption des Werkes. Angefangen mit dem Titel, über den privilegierten Platz der Komposition in der Gesamtheit der dargestellten Fragen, aufgeführte Beispiele, bis zur Anerkennung der Gerichtsrede als wichtigste Form der Redekunst; alles ist eine Wiederholung der Rhetoriktheorie der Antike. Dieser hohe Grad der Abhängigkeit lässt das Werk wenig innovativ erscheinen und die unternomennen Untersuchungen schließen sich im Bereich der Komparatistik ein. Offen bleibt die Frage, ob diese weitreichende Abhängigkeit eine bewusste Entscheidung des Callimachus war, oder aber handelt es sich dabei um ein charakteristisches Merkmal einer Generation der Gelehrten der Renaissance, bei der die Faszination für die Antike sich noch auf die Kenntnis ihrer Thesen beschränkte. Eine tiefere Reflexion, Synthese und eigene Ideen, die auf der Basis der Hinterlassenschaft der Antike entstanden, sollten erst später folgen. Jakub Z. Lichański Quo litterae sunt apud Grammaticaes, sunt hoc apud Rhetores loci: ut enim ex litteris verba, sic ex locis rationis et argumenta coalecunt […] In the article the author shall explore the understanding and methods of the use of the term topoi/loci in Poland from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century. The article is divided into five parts: in the first part, Introduction, the general problems associated with topics are enumerated. In the second part, The foundations of the theory, the author describes theoretical foundations of the theory of topics within the theory of rhetoric. In part three, The theory of loci in the texts of Polish Rhetors till the end of 18th century, the author explains how to understand the concept of topics demonstrated by the Polish theoreticians of rhetoric until the end of 18th century. The fourth part, The practice of the use of topoi in Polish Literature till the end of 18th century, is devoted to presenting the examples of the application of topics by Polish writers. In the last part, Conclusion, the author contends that until the end of 18th century Polish scholars were not able to accurately define the topics and often did not describe them properly. The misrepresentation usually is a result from confusing and blending of two separate areas: the theory of argumentation and topics. The latter is, of course, not identical to the theory of argumentation, and provides the following: a. the models used in argumentation (cf. table II), b. the ready-made schemata of thoughts (cf. table I), and c. the schemata of words which intertwine, and frequently do, with a. and b. and are mostly visible in the opinions of Słowacki, Hedouine, and Fredro. Writers such as Melanchthon, Soares, Keckermann, and Caussin do not confuse these issues, but their views undergo simplification in the course of the didactic process. The consequences for the development of theories are obvious and the opinion expressed in Orgelbrand’s Encyclopaedia is not surprising. In addition, these issues complicate two kinds of theoretical considerations: first, the deliberation over logic resulting in the removal of topics as an aid in the construction of argumentation, especially reliable argumentation; and, second, the application of loci communis in theology, called loci theologici. Practitioners, in turn, clearly understand what topics are, both in general, and in their peculiar variety, constituted by loci communes. This may be due to the fact that both groups based their knowledge on the treatises from Antiquity, Renaissance or Baroque, which mainly reiterated the definitions by Cicero or Quintilian and enumerated various examples (Coenen 2001, 406-408). You must also presume that the most important part in the didactic process was to teach the practical skills of constructing a speech and preparing a valid argument. Hence, the practical part of the theory of rhetoric does not indicate any “deviations” from the generally accepted principles
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 18-19, 2009 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! The current issue of Forum Artis Rhetoricae (fasc. 18-19) presents dissertations concerning the various aspects of implementing rhetoric in social communication. The first two articles pertain to political communication. Agnieszka Kampka analyzes rhetorical mechanisms in internet blogs written by politicians. Agnieszka Budzyńska-Daca writes about the technique of mutatio controversiae present in pre-electoral debates. The next two articles explore the area of advertising. Combining rhetorical and psychological aspects, Małgorzata Jakóbczyk examines Italian advertisements referring to the sphere of economics, and Anna Karwowska characterizes the use of topoi in texts on Italian fashion. The last two texts touch upon less recognized aspects of social communication. Agnieszka Rypel, in her research on educational discourse, links rhetorical perspective with Critical Discourse Analysis. Marcin Styszyński points out a significant impact of classic Arabic rhetoric on contemporary political communication and advertising. The articles featured in the current issue of Forum Artis Rhetoricae demonstrate the fact that social communication coexists with rhetoric although its users show little awareness of the practical application of the rhetorical devices. In the News/Recentiora section Cezar M. Ornatowski writes about the Conference Rhetoric in Society [Leiden, 21-23.01.2009]. Jakub Z. Lichanski
Agnieszka Kampka This study investigates the impact of management tactics and self-presentation on politicians’ blogs. Blogs are primarily the tools of political marketing during the election campaign. The three components of rhetorical ethos used in the blogs are: (1) knowing what to do; (2) having relevant practical experience and factual knowledge; and (3) sharing the values and interests of their audience. Polish blogger-politicians present themselves as competent, busy, intelligent, and witty persons. Agnieszka Budzyńska-Daca The article presents different uses of the tactics of mutatio controversiae in a debate. They belong to the improper methods of refutation used by the participants in the analyzed debate to avoid answering uncomfortable questions. The commonly used tactics of the methods include diversion, generalization, “red herring,” and ignoratio elenchi. The author presents the elements of the process of abandoning uncomfortable topics for the so-called replacement topics. The article also deals with justifying arguments introduced by the use of the transitio figurae, overt abandoning, as well as covert abandoning which does not reveal any linguistic signals while the topic is changed. Małgorzata Jakóbczyk The paper depicts persuasive means employed in Italian economic advertisements. The strategies can be rhetorical as well as semiotical, iconographic, and psychological, and they are used to influence receivers in four phases of reception of an advertisement. These include 1). form recognition, in which perception psychology rules are used. The ad composition is therefore built according to balance rule, glance rule and movement rule, which are also supported by typographical means of persuasion and by repeating the same information. 2). Is content reading, based on the visual-verbal rhetoric, represented by icons that combine textual elements, such as slogans or descriptions, to pictorial ones. The vision of the world they depict can be described as a road at the end of which there is a goal to be accomplished. The icons employed include mostly metaphors, as well as similes, gradatio, symbols, contrasts, oxymora, prosopopoeia and metonymies. 3). Is meaning comprehension, which is a sort of a game between senders and receivers based on cultural connotations and the union of worlds, accomplished by using emotional and autobiographical elements. 4) Is acting according to the sender’s intentions, reconducted to verbal means of persuasion, such as sender-based or receiver-based communication, the peremptory and question rhetoric, and using official tone, performatives, and economic vocabulary. All these means lead to the idealization of the world, in which, thanks to the hedonistic attitude, the receiver’s needs are always anticipated, and all the problems can be solved by the advertised services. Anna Karwowska The focus of the article is on the means of persuasion that are used to convince women to follow the current trends in fashion. The research area includes articles from the official websites of Italian fashion magazines published from January to December 2007. The corpus analysis supports the thesis that the prevailing topos in the articles on current top fashion choices is the topos of time. The topos is realized by the two rules of preference; more preferred are those garments which (1) may be used always or often, or (2) may be used in a particular moment. Another popular means is the topos of authority. It is also based on two rules of preference; more preferred are those garments which are chosen (1) by the experts, fashion authorities, or (2) by the whole or the majority of the society. The author examines several stylistic devices applied in the articles, such as metaphors, which render the fast pace of change in the world of fashion, and anthropomorphization, which presents the fashion trends as the entities yielding power and the means of gaining success. Agnieszka Rypel The aim of the article is to demonstrate the potential usage of rhetorical analysis in the critical research on the educational discourse and its context. The use of persuasive mechanisms is employed in power building processes, with education being one of the ways to establish and preserve authority. This authority is responsible for a socializing the younger generation, as well as for handing down a particular cultural paradigm. Possessing an epideictic function, educational myths serve as a means of implementing these paradigms. Based on several examples from current school curricula, the author demonstrates the function of educational myths present in Polish language classrooms. Marcin Styszyński The considerations presented in the paper establish that some theories and terms related to Arabic rhetoric correspond with advertisement, public relations, and propaganda. However, an influence on emotions and reflections is the characteristic feature of balagha and mass media issues. The examples presented in the paper show that some advertising and political presentations are based on suitable words, appositions, and arguments, which persuade the audience and enrich meanings. Particular stylistic forms also express particular features of products and political slogans. At the same time, the application of rhetorical theories entails a specific construction of a message. A limited number of mass media production are usually based on exclusion of uncomfortable information and the emphasis on exaggerated political significations. Besides, metaphors and comparisons play an important role in promoting the products of mass culture as they affect the creation of positive or negative public opinion.
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 20-21, 2010 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! This volume is devoted to two topics. The first involves the study of rhetoric in contemporary forms of media communication, with the first two articles devoted to television. Agnieszka Kampka presents Smolensk disaster media coverage, focusing on the rhetorical aspects of the funeral speeches. Monika Wójciuk examines the persuasive potential of the so-called CNN effect. Three more articles concern the rhetoric on the Internet. Monika Worsowicz examines how the ancient category of appropriateness may be applied to the modern Internet blog. Oliwia Tarasewicz-Gryta introduces the concept of participatory rhetoric in the example of profiles on Facebook. Kamila Miłkowska-Samul uses the example of gossip websites to illustrate the use of rhetoric as a method of systematic research in relation to media texts of 21st century. The second part of the volume presents current research on reasoning. The first two articles are theoretical. Katarzyna Budzyńska, Andrzej Nowacki, and Joanna Skulska demonstrate the application of diagrams in the study of the structure of arguments, illustrating the potential of the analytical program, Araucaria-PL. Kamila Dębowska makes a critical analysis of the applicability of the pragma-dialectical model in the study of abduction reasoning. Two following articles showcase the achievements of Polish scholars who do research in argumentation. Marcin Koszowy describes recent major publications on informal logic and argumentation theory. Katarzyna Budzyńska and Magdalena Kacprzak present the activities of researchers involved in the project ArgDiaP. Our journal invites authors to submit articles pertaining to the broad subject of rhetoric. The themes of the forthcoming issues, as well as the dates of the conferences organized by Polish Rhetorical Society, can be found on our website www.retoryka.edu.pl Maria Załęska
Agnieszka Kampka President Lech Kaczynski’s funeral and the requiem mass for the victims of the Smolensk plane crash were not only great public ceremonies but also media events, according to D. Dayan’s and E. Katz’s definition. The paper analyzes the speeches which were made at that time. Funeral speeches are a rhetoric genre with a long tradition. Commendation of the deceased and consolation of the living are the main goals of the speakers. The unique circumstances of the ceremonies challenged the speakers in many ways. They tried to show possible effects of the catastrophe: the rebirth of solidarity and sense of community, the possibility of reconciliation between the Polish and the Russians, and the fact that people around the world will get to know the truth about Katyn crime. Contemporary examples of political leaders’ public funerals, like Imre Nagy, Indira Gandhi, lord Mountbatten, show the role of this kind of celebrations in social life. Symbols, pictures and metaphors used by speakers help to build national and civic identity. Monika Wójciuk The importance of media in the modern world is a subject of keen interest not only of media studies, but also of social, political, and legal studies. The diversified research results in numerous theories which attempt to explain both the mass media impact on the recipient, as well as the consequences of this phenomenon. The CNN effect theory describes the ability of the news media to influence the shape of foreign policy and international politics by the impact occurring at two levels: general, directed at mass audience, and special, meant for the authorities. Although the real power to determine the policies of the state belongs solely to the authorities, the role of public opinion in decision-making, as a specific element of coercion, cannot be ignored. Hence, the media often try to shape policy decisions by appealing to a mass audience, using appropriately chosen words and moving images. Monika Worsowicz The article presents the category of appropriateness in the context of communication pragmatics on the internet. The analysis takes into consideration the link between communication skills, psychological competence and ethical attitude of the recipient. The objective is to determine what can be accepted in terms of meeting the requirement of appropriateness in blogging. Technical conditions of contact contribute to blurring the boundary between what is considered by internet users as appropriate, and what is rejected due to breaching the borderline of appropriateness. Moreover, the acceptance of tolerable language behavior is established by the group negotiation process. The role of the appropriateness in style is substantially limited in favour of ostentatious freedom of opinion and judgment. A clear intentionality in the behavior of the author, e.g. the blog title, the titles of posts or comments, a nickname, is an important factor in assessing the appropriateness of blogging. Oliwia Tarasewicz-Gryt Internet communication across social media can be understood as a rhetorical process. It causes us to reconsider some assumptions about rhetoric based on other media texts mainly because of specific communication situations in social media. The audience, that is not passive, but active, is the most important matter, and, hence communication is always interaction-based and does not necessarily consist of dialogue. Another matter rests upon the credibility of both the user and arguments, its ethos. Furthermore, other issues to be discussed are fundamental canons of rhetoric: invention, disposition or argument, and elocution, in the context of intertextual and non-linear internet communication. Its most important aspect is elocution. Arguments are linked, not referred to, and there is no need to master stylistics since the “speech” itself is constructed by many social media users. The persuasive power of these arguments is detached from the figures of thought or of diction. Social media are a part of participatory culture that changed internet communication. It is a result of digital media where consumers act as communities rather than as individuals, a phenomenon which Pierre Levy calls “collective intelligence”. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement and thus users become parts of a collective intelligence. This paper also attempts to compare collective intelligence with rhetorical loci communis. We decided to analyse Facebook as a manifestation of shared collective knowledge providing basis for argumentation, enabling mutual comprehension, and facilitating successful reasoning in rhetorical dispute. Kamila Miłkowska-Samul Rhetoric, often unfairly considered a mere art of beautiful, but empty speech or a domain of unethical tricks of manipulation, needs attention as a means of analysis in the contemporary world. It is true that the traditional approach limits the range of rhetoric to the two main understandings represented by Aristotle and Quintilian: rhetoric as an art of persuasion and an art of „good” speech, correct and subject to the norms in force in a given culture. In the light of contemporary studies, however, it is justifiable to expand the range of rhetoric so that it includes a wide variety of texts. In his research, A. Kibedi-Varga (2001) individuates three types of civilization and rhetoric: oral, written, and the media civilization and rhetoric where methods of rhetoric find new application to messages and signs of contemporary culture dominated by mass media including texts, architecture, publicity, etc. Rhetoric has become a more universal instrument of analysis, therefore it can be applied to internet communication, too. The observations presented in this article are based on the analysis of gossip portals, containing messages about private lives of celebrities, e.g. actors, singers, TV stars. Gossip portals constitute an exemplification of the thesis that rhetoric still represents a powerful instrument of text analysis, which comprises both creation and deciphering the meaning of the message by the recipient. How to write effectively and how to interpret texts correctly are the main fields of rhetoric as theory nowadays. Therefore, the goal of this article is to demonstrate how certain rhetorical concepts can be put to use, taking into account the specificity of computer-mediated communication, where traditional aspects such as time and place have lost all meaning, and messages are instantaneous and may reach masses at a time. The theoretical apparatus of rhetoric provides us with means of understanding such an unprecedented situation in which both the author and the audience are fairly anonymous and no face-to-face contact is possible. The paper tackles the question of adapting the concepts related to inventio, dispositio and elocutio in the context of anonymity and commercialization; gossip portals are business enterprises aimed at generating income. The notion of the least common denominator (Kłoskowska, A. 2005, 1980), which explains the tendency of the popular culture to promote simplicity, standardization, basic emotions, and superficial content, helps us to understand the choice of rhetoric procedures used to shape the message adequately for the author’s intention, which is to „seduce” the biggest numbers of readers. The paper aims to show how the traditional concepts of ethos and pathos can be employed in the contemporary situation and how the terms of docere, delectare and movere are reinterpreted in the case of gossip. The analysis of the respective stages of text creation and its techniques allows the author to create more effective text in order to attract a wide public, as well as the allowing the audience to better interpret the message and its purposes regardless of the medium used. Virtual gossip seems to confirm the relevance of rhetoric as an art of discovering what is persuasive in a given situation. Katarzyna Budzyńska, Andrzej Nowacki, Joanna Skulska The aim of the paper is to present the diagramming method commonly used in the argument analysis. Diagrams allow us to visually represent the structure and the schemes of argumentation. Moreover, we discuss the potential which computational technologies offer to support argument analysis. The issue is described based on the example of a software tool Araucaria and its Polish version Araucaria-PL. Kamila Dębowska This paper aims at presentation, critical evaluation, and extension of the pragma-dialectical model of argumentation. The model, complex as it might be, appears not to be an entirely appropriate tool for the study of reasonableness of real-life discussions with externalised disputes, especially when considered from the semiotic perspective. It seems that the choice of rhetorical, dialectical and pragmatic functions of the model exercised by pragma-dialecticians continues to be selective. It is assumed, that in the project since naturally occurring discussions with externalised disputes are characterized by multiple features, so they should be studied by the application of well-determined criteria which take into account multiple solutions. My aim is not to change the basic character of the pragma-dialectical model, but to supply additional criteria in places where the model turns out to be deficient. I support the claim of pragma-dialectics that determination of a disagreement space through the specification of the common propositional content, types of the disputes, standpoints, stages and instances of complex argumentation relations resulting from introduction of counterarguments is substantial for further analysis of reasonableness of the argumentative moves. I claim, however, that the perception of the concept of fallacy in the pragma-dialectical theory does not go beyond traditional definitions of formal and informal fallacies. In pragma-dialectics, every violation of a special rule of a critical discussion is considered a fallacy. The only extension of the standard treatment is the idea that each violation is also considered to be a hindrance to resolution of a dispute. However, no other goals than the dialectical global goal of resolution of a dispute and the rhetorical global goal of launching the most effective attack are considered within the pragma-dialectical model. In view of the interdisciplinary character of the field of argumentation, my claim is that, in the study of reasonableness of argumentative moves, the main focus should be on pragmatic relevancy of an argument, inferential processes and their relation to possible multiple global goals and standing concerns of speakers. The paper shows that the applicative value of the Interpretation as Abduction framework appears to be the most adequate for supplementing the pragma-dialectical model in this case. Marcin Koszowy The growing interest in the study of argumentation may be observed from the beginning of the 1970s. The current inquiry into the complex phenomenon of argumentation consists of a great variety of perspectives, theoretical approaches, and research methods. The aim of this article is to characterize the editorial project aimed at popularizing the main contemporary tendencies in the study of argumentation. The result of the project is the special issue Argumentation Theory and Informal Logic of the journal Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, vol. 16(29), 2009. The articles included in the volume support the thesis that various approaches in the study of argumentation, despite differences in methods of inquiry, try to realize a common research goal: elaborating tools, in particular language and methods, for analyzing and evaluating common-sense reasoning performed in an argumentative discourse. In order to explore this common goal, this editorial project was aimed at sketching the map of (1) recent developments in argumentation theory and informal logic, such as applications of formal and computational methods in the study of argumentation, research on argumentation and artificial intelligence, and argument schemes or legal argumentation; and (2) the research on argumentation within the tradition of Polish logic and methodology of science, such as applications of formal-logical methods in argument analysis and evaluation. The volume includes papers written either by the major representatives of the informal logic movement and pragma-dialectics or by formal logicians, computer scientists, methodologists, and philosophers of science. Among the contributors there are scholars of argumentation representing the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric (CRRAR) of the University of Windsor; The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis; the Argumentation Research Group (ARG) of the University of Dundee; and the Polish project Persuasiveness. Study in the Effective Use of Arguments (PERSEUS), and the Belarussian School of Logic of the University of Minsk. The aim of this paper is realized in four steps. In Section 2,I characterize the state of the art in the study of argumentation, with the special focus on the two leading research movements, i.e. informal logic and pragma-dialectics. Yet, argumentation is a key subject not only for informal logic an pragma-dialectics, but also for the disciplines dealing with various forms of language and reasoning. Among those disciplines there are: formal logic, informatics, semiotics, methodology of science and the theory of rhetoric. In Section 3,I give reasons for popularizing informal logic and pragma-dialectics among the Polish researchers. In Section 4,I discuss the content of volume 16(29) of Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric. The main topics are: the origins of informal logic and pragma-dialectics, the relationship between formal and informal logic, formal methods in the study of argumentation, dialectical and rhetorical criteria of argument evaluation, deductivism, fallacies, the role of definitions in argumentation, Stephen Toulmin’s model of argumentation, and ethical and legal argumentation. In Section 5,I sketch an answer to the question: what are the future editorial perspectives concerning the study of argumentation?
FORUM ARTIS RHETORICAE, fasc. 22-23, 2010 Table of Contents
Editorial Dear Readers! In the Translations / Interpretationes section we present an article by Prof. Paul E. Koptak Rhetorical Criticism of the Bible: a Resource of Preaching. It is a review of U.S. research on the Bible, using the methods of the rhetorical criticism, and the text ends homilies. In the Review of selected rhetorical publication / Index operum recens editorum, quae ad artem rhetoricam spectant and New Publications reviews/ Librorum existimationes sections, you will find the subsequent part of the rhetorical bibliography, as well as the reviews of three recently published books on rhetoric, Helena Cichocka, Rhetoric in the practice of everyday life, discusses the book: Retoryka i polityka. Dwudziestolecie polskiej transformacji (Rhetoric and politics. Twenty years of Polish transformation), Warszawa, 2010, a collection of articles about the Polish political and social transformation. Jakub Z. Lichański writes about the book: Leksykon retoryki prawniczej (Dictionary of legal rhetoric), Warszawa, 2010. The same author presents the book: Tomasz Jasiński, Polska barokowa retoryka muzyczna (Book about Baroque musical rhetoric), Lublin, 2006. In the Current News/Recentiora section, we will give some information about the Conferences in Amsterdam, in January, 2011, Rhetoric in Society III, and Bologna, in July, 2011, Rhetoric and Law, 18th Biennial ISHR Conference. Our journal invites authors to submit articles pertaining to the broad subject of rhetoric. The themes of the forthcoming issues as well as the dates of the conferences organized by Polish Rhetorical Society can be found on our website www.retoryka.edu.pl Jakub Z. Lichanski
Kinga Kwaterska This article presents an analysis of Leśmian’s poem using a method of rhetorical criticism. The method understands metaphor as a nonliteral comparison in which a word or phrase from one domain of experience is applied to another domain. A metaphor joins two terms: the tenor, the topic of the subject, and the vehicle, the mechanism through which the topic is viewed. Using metaphor criticism, the article isolates and examines metaphors in the text. The first metaphor, DANCE IS LIFE, shows the poet’s belief that an individual and the universe are connected by the primeval rhythm that organizes life. The second and third metaphors, DANCE IS GALLOP and DANCE IS A FIGHT, reflect the ecstatic nature of the dance. Then the poet introduces metaphors that are fundamental to his poetry: DANCE IS LOVE, DANCE IS DEATH, LOVE IS RECOGNITION, and DEATH IS RECOGNITION. These metaphors animate the world of Leśmian’s poetry and reveal the ultimate meaning of the ballad: DANCE IS ÉLAN VITAL and DANCING IS UNITING. By utilizing the same vehicle in all metaphors the vision created in the text is characterized by integrity yet ambiguity. Jakub Z. Lichański In 2010 we mark the tenth anniversary of the Polish Rhetorical Society; we have prepared for publication 22ng and 23rd issues of our quarterly Forum Artis Rhetoricae. I will not play the chronicler, but rather try to show that our Society is one of many similar societies – which operate in the world. The article contains information on rhetorical organizations in the world. |
FAR 2011 No. 4 (27) October-December