The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument
by James R. Crosswhite
University of Wisconsin Press, 1996 eISBN: 978-0-299-14953-6 | Cloth: 978-0-299-14950-5 | Paper: 978-0-299-14954-3 Library of Congress Classification BC177.C765 1996 Dewey Decimal Classification 168
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Responding to skeptics within higher education and critics without, James Crosswhite argues powerfully that the core of a college education should be learning to write a reasoned argument. A trained philosopher and director of a university-wide composition program, Crosswhite challenges his readers—teachers of writing and communication, philosophers, critical theorists, and educational administrators—to reestablish the traditional role of rhetoric in education.
To those who have lost faith in the abilities of people to reach reasoned mutual agreements, and to others who have attacked the right-or-wrong model of formal logic, this book offers the reminder that the rhetorical tradition has always viewed argumentation as a dialogue, a response to changing situations, an exchange of persuading, listening, and understanding. Crosswhite’s aim is to give new purpose to writing instruction and to students’ writing, to reinvest both with the deep ethical interests of the rhetorical tradition. In laying out the elements of argumentation, for example, he shows that claiming, questioning, and giving reasons are not simple elements of formal logic, but communicative acts with complicated ethical features. Students must learn not only how to construct an argument, but the purposes, responsibilities, and consequences of engaging in one.
Crosswhite supports his aims through a rhetorical reconstruction of reason, offering new interpretations of Plato and Aristotle and of the concepts of reflection and dialogue from early modernity through Hegel to Gadamer. And, in his conclusion, he ties these theoretical and historical underpinnings to current problems of higher education, the definition of the liberal arts, and, especially, the teaching of written communication.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
James Crosswhite, associate professor of English at the University of Oregon, holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and has directed writing programs at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Oregon. He has published many articles on rhetoric and argumentation.
REVIEWS
“A work of art, conceptually and stylistically. What Crosswhite has attempted is quite remarkable. A major contribution.”—David Kaufer, Carnegie Mellon
“The Rhetoric of Reason will be a delight to hand my graduate students, many of whom have learned sophisticated objections to argumentative models of discourse. The book meets these concerns in a creative way. The teaching of effective writing must be a critical part of what we in the liberal arts do, and, of course, we should all be teaching good reasoning.”—John Lyne, University of Iowa, series editor
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE
PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC, AND ARGUMENTATION
Chapter 1
The End of Philosophy and the Resurgence of Rhetoric
The Aims of a Rhetoric of Reason
The Philosophical Context
After Philosophy: Rhetoric
Teaching after Philosophy
Argument: The Traditional Theory and Its Problems
PART TWO
RECONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTATION
Chapter 2
Claiming
Argument as Dialogue
What Is a Claim?
Jürgen Habermas and Validity Claims
Claims as Invitations
Other Approaches to Claiming
The Claimant and Reasons
Summary
Chapter 3
Questioning
Whose Question?
The Respondent as Questioner
The Respondent as Interlocutor
Responses and Questions
Chapter 4
Argument and Conflict
Argument as Conflict
The Problem of Epideictic
Ways of Conflict
The Parties to Conflict
The Focus of Conflict
The Intensity of Conflict
The Level of Conflict
The Means of Conflict
The Purpose of Conflict
Objections and Clarifications
Conclusion: Back to Teaching
PART THREE
EVALUATING ARGUMENTS
Chapter 5
Audiences and Arguments
Introduction
The Concept of Audience
Kinds of Audience
A Basic Problem with the Approach
How to Construct a Universal Audience
The Uses of Universal Audiences
Living Universality
Beyond Universality
Transversal and Universal
The Rhetoric of Logic
Chapter 6
Being Unreasonable: A Rhetoric of Fallacies
Rhetoric and Philosophy
The Basic Problem and the New Theory
Conclusion
Chapter 7
Argument and Ideology: Evaluating Argumentation
The Ideology of Argumentation
The Limits of Argumentation
Argumentation and Gender
Argumentation and Multiculturalism
PART FOUR
ARGUMENT, INQUIRY, AND EDUCATION
Chapter 8
Argument as Inquiry
The Idea of Inquiry
Two Kinds of Reasoning: Some Historical Angles
Argument and Inquiry
Context of Discovery/Context of Justification: Redrawing the Lines
Inquiry and Persuasion
Conflict and Discovery
Chapter 9
Rhetoric, Ethics, and the Aims of Higher Education
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument
by James R. Crosswhite
University of Wisconsin Press, 1996 eISBN: 978-0-299-14953-6 Cloth: 978-0-299-14950-5 Paper: 978-0-299-14954-3
Responding to skeptics within higher education and critics without, James Crosswhite argues powerfully that the core of a college education should be learning to write a reasoned argument. A trained philosopher and director of a university-wide composition program, Crosswhite challenges his readers—teachers of writing and communication, philosophers, critical theorists, and educational administrators—to reestablish the traditional role of rhetoric in education.
To those who have lost faith in the abilities of people to reach reasoned mutual agreements, and to others who have attacked the right-or-wrong model of formal logic, this book offers the reminder that the rhetorical tradition has always viewed argumentation as a dialogue, a response to changing situations, an exchange of persuading, listening, and understanding. Crosswhite’s aim is to give new purpose to writing instruction and to students’ writing, to reinvest both with the deep ethical interests of the rhetorical tradition. In laying out the elements of argumentation, for example, he shows that claiming, questioning, and giving reasons are not simple elements of formal logic, but communicative acts with complicated ethical features. Students must learn not only how to construct an argument, but the purposes, responsibilities, and consequences of engaging in one.
Crosswhite supports his aims through a rhetorical reconstruction of reason, offering new interpretations of Plato and Aristotle and of the concepts of reflection and dialogue from early modernity through Hegel to Gadamer. And, in his conclusion, he ties these theoretical and historical underpinnings to current problems of higher education, the definition of the liberal arts, and, especially, the teaching of written communication.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
James Crosswhite, associate professor of English at the University of Oregon, holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and has directed writing programs at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Oregon. He has published many articles on rhetoric and argumentation.
REVIEWS
“A work of art, conceptually and stylistically. What Crosswhite has attempted is quite remarkable. A major contribution.”—David Kaufer, Carnegie Mellon
“The Rhetoric of Reason will be a delight to hand my graduate students, many of whom have learned sophisticated objections to argumentative models of discourse. The book meets these concerns in a creative way. The teaching of effective writing must be a critical part of what we in the liberal arts do, and, of course, we should all be teaching good reasoning.”—John Lyne, University of Iowa, series editor
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE
PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC, AND ARGUMENTATION
Chapter 1
The End of Philosophy and the Resurgence of Rhetoric
The Aims of a Rhetoric of Reason
The Philosophical Context
After Philosophy: Rhetoric
Teaching after Philosophy
Argument: The Traditional Theory and Its Problems
PART TWO
RECONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTATION
Chapter 2
Claiming
Argument as Dialogue
What Is a Claim?
Jürgen Habermas and Validity Claims
Claims as Invitations
Other Approaches to Claiming
The Claimant and Reasons
Summary
Chapter 3
Questioning
Whose Question?
The Respondent as Questioner
The Respondent as Interlocutor
Responses and Questions
Chapter 4
Argument and Conflict
Argument as Conflict
The Problem of Epideictic
Ways of Conflict
The Parties to Conflict
The Focus of Conflict
The Intensity of Conflict
The Level of Conflict
The Means of Conflict
The Purpose of Conflict
Objections and Clarifications
Conclusion: Back to Teaching
PART THREE
EVALUATING ARGUMENTS
Chapter 5
Audiences and Arguments
Introduction
The Concept of Audience
Kinds of Audience
A Basic Problem with the Approach
How to Construct a Universal Audience
The Uses of Universal Audiences
Living Universality
Beyond Universality
Transversal and Universal
The Rhetoric of Logic
Chapter 6
Being Unreasonable: A Rhetoric of Fallacies
Rhetoric and Philosophy
The Basic Problem and the New Theory
Conclusion
Chapter 7
Argument and Ideology: Evaluating Argumentation
The Ideology of Argumentation
The Limits of Argumentation
Argumentation and Gender
Argumentation and Multiculturalism
PART FOUR
ARGUMENT, INQUIRY, AND EDUCATION
Chapter 8
Argument as Inquiry
The Idea of Inquiry
Two Kinds of Reasoning: Some Historical Angles
Argument and Inquiry
Context of Discovery/Context of Justification: Redrawing the Lines
Inquiry and Persuasion
Conflict and Discovery
Chapter 9
Rhetoric, Ethics, and the Aims of Higher Education
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE