Notes for January 21

Style and Arrangement

I. “In ancient rhetoric, arrangement primarily concerned two processes: selecting the arguments to be used and arranging these in an order that was clear and persuasive” (Crowley and Hawhee 292).

A. Kairos and arrangement or taxis—“originally used in military contexts to denote the arrangement of troops for battle” (293) go hand-in-hand; if we discover openings to arguments then we also are given clues for how to arrange proofs to make the most of these opportunities.

B. Understanding the needs of the audience is crucial to understand the “critical areas” where one can enter the conversation.

C. Discourse typically requires four parts: prooemium (introduction), narration (statement of the issue), proof, and conclusion (294).

II. First piece to consider is the Introduction—prooemium, including: (1) Exordium—Latin for “urging forward”—and in English, to exhort; Quintilian wrote that “the sole purpose of the exordium is to prepare our audience in such a way that they will be disposed to lend a ready ear to the rest of our speech” (295); (2) Narration—statement of the issue according to the type of claim you’re making: definition, value, or procedure (304); (3) Partition—name the issues in the dispute and/or list arguments to be used in the order they will appear.

A. An introduction considers the heart of what we want to say and then discovers ways to bring people to the table to hear our message.

B. The Exordium thus attempts to create an opening or begin conversation on an issue; Cicero argues that the exordia should be dignified and serious, which simply means that there must be continuity--clear connections--between the framing and the stating of one’s case.

How to begin the conversation? First consider position of the audience:

1. Honorable: speaker has immediate support from the audience.

2. Difficult: audience is unsympathetic to the rhetor or to the issues raised.

3. Mean: audience regards the rhetor of the issue as unimportant or uninteresting (mean signifies “insignificant” or “trivial”).

4. Ambiguous: audience is unsure about what is at issue; or issue is partly honorable and partly difficult.

5. Obscure: issue is too difficult for audience to understand, because they are uninformed or because it is complex.

C. If the case is honorable—there is immediate support from the audience then it is easy to introduce the topic “directly and in plain language making the audience well-disposed, receptive, and attentive” (296).

D. Insinuation requires the rhetor to give hostile audiences in relation to the rhetor or the rhetor’s position more consideration.

E. Therefore, in the introduction one needs to find ways to make the audience attentive and receptive, especially if the case is difficult, trivial, or obscure.

1. Topics for Making Audiences Attentive:
a. Show importance of issue
b. Show how issue affects audience
c. Show how issue affects everyone
d. Show how issue affects general good of the community

2. Topics for Making Audiences Receptive
a. Strengthen your ethos
b. Weaken the ethos of those who oppose the rhetor
c. Show respect for the audience
d. Praise issue or position while denigrating position of opponents

3. Topics for Insinuations:
a. If audience is hostile, admit difference of opinion
b. If audience is unsavory, admit this
c. If audience is tired, promise to be brief

F. Write a press release regarding Seattle University’s response to the earthquakes in Haiti.

1. A press release is designed to make available information to the media about an organization, person, or event; press releases also are about newsworthy material.

2. Press releases include an introduction, support for the main claim, and conclusion regarding the organization and final words about the main claim.

G. The second piece to consider in an argument is the narrative (statement of the case): “in the narrative, a rhetor states the issue as clearly and simply as she can” (303).

1. Definitive Narrative: shape how the audience defines a topic.

2. A Narrative about Values focuses on the characters of a story and attempts to shape the judgments of an audience.

3. Procedural narrative: narrating a case to emphasize action or the plot of a story.

H. How we narrate the case then brings the partition into being; a partition “can name the issues in dispute and it can list the arguments to be used in the order they will appear” (306).

I. The Arguments: Confirmation and Refutation: work with key arguments and anticipate opposing arguments.

J. Conclusion (peroration): Cicero argues that “a rhetor may do three things in a peroration: sum up her arguments, cast anyone who disagrees with her in a negative light, and arouse sympathy for herself, her clients, or her case” (310).