Chapter 10 of ARCS covered the elements of composition and ornament, going into specific detail on the elements that constitute good rhetorical style: correctness, clearness, appropriateness and ornament. To relate back to the reading on Locke, the discussion on clarity in ARCS focused on the ideas of Quintilian and how a rhetorician did not have to be entirely concise with the use of circumlocution. Circumlocution is the name of the concept Locke spoke disparagingly of his work as it pertains directly to speaking around the point you want to make. It reminded me of his references to liquor and gold and how the loose definitions of these terms detract from the perfection, or correctness, in communication. The term circumlocution I feel is just another word for euphemism. There are various ways that clarity can be obscured in language, such as colloquial and obsolete words and jargon.
Where I think that Locke would rule out the use of these terms altogether, I would agree with Quintilian's stance that there are occasions to implement them, for instance when the rhetorician knows that the audience is generally familiar with field specific terms. Using jargon in the appropriate forum can help to build a speaker's ethos with the audience. In other words, the simplest expressions are not always the most powerful and concision should not always be favored over more specific terms.
On another note, I also found the discussion of treason to be compelling because it was categorized as ornamentation. I would never have considered the investigation of treason to fall under the scope of rhetoric, but it is entirely applicable now that it was brought to my attention. The rhetorical questions posed to the individual foster a dangerous rhetorical situation in which the person's life hangs in the balance of rhetorical devices such as the antistrophe and the epithet. This made me realize the vast extent that rhetoric stretches in our society that I feel often goes unnoticed because of its translatability into so many different fields.
I also highlighted the importance of language, which was addressed within Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. I thought it was helpful to learn about how language was evolving into something more sophisticated, in that it was clear and concise, helping to strengthen writing and language as a whole. I thought your analysis on treason was interesting, because it seems so strange to think of treason being applied to the field of rhetorics. During the Enlightenment, clarity and the avoidance of unnecessary, of colloquial language truly helped shape what writing and language has evolved and developed into during modern times.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion in class helped me clarify the line that rhetoric dances between science and the humanities and how it translates in terms of style to the modern day. The explanation of Vico's work also aided me in understanding the true significance in his theories and it was interesting to reflect on the criticism Cicero garnered for his stylistic preferences.
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