Showing papers in "Quarterly Journal of Speech in 1985"
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of group decision-making is presented, which focuses on the production and reproduction of social systems through the application of generative rules and resources, and its advantages over previous formulations are explored.
Abstract: This essay presents a theory of group decision‐making. Utilizing recent advances in structuration theory, which focuses on the production and reproduction of social systems through the application of generative rules and resources, the new conceptualization is presented and its advantages over previous formulations are explored. Results from an ongoing research program are summarized as partial substantiation of the perspective.
315 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a cosmological evolutionary perspective termed "the perennial philosophy" is proposed to interpret how various scholarly and popular discourses constitute a collective exigence of fragmentation and a rhetoric of transcendent wholeness.
Abstract: This essay explicates a cosmological evolutionary perspective termed “the perennial philosophy” in order to interpret how various scholarly and popular discourses constitute a collective exigence of fragmentation and a rhetoric of transcendent wholeness. The framework is then used to analyze the mythic rhetoric of E.T., which is based on collaboration rather than combat, transcendence rather than dialectic. E.T. is seen as an oxymoronic child who embodies the past, present, and future and who may represent a proto‐type of an emerging cosmic hero.
61 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical perspective to understand an array of problematic situations: the unspeakable, the ineffable, the radical paradox, and the paradox of authority is offered.
Abstract: Through an exploration of possible forms of the reflexive text‐context relationship, we offer a critical perspective to understand an array of problematic situations: the unspeakable, the ineffable, the radical paradox, and the paradox of authority. Strategies of non‐participation, desecration, and contextual reconstruction are reviewed and Senator Edward Kennedy's “Television Statement to the People of Massachusetts” and Abraham Lincoln's “Gettysburg Address” are reassessed.
52 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that if Alasdair MacIntyre's moral philosophy is extended by integrating a classical sense of rhetoric with a language-action conception of temporal narration, rhetoric and moral action can be reunited in rhetorical conversation.
Abstract: This essay argues that if Alasdair MacIntyre's moral philosophy is extended by integrating a classical sense of rhetoric with a language‐action conception of temporal narration, rhetoric and moral action can be reunited in rhetorical conversation.
50 citations
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48 citations
TL;DR: Angelina Grimke, one of America's first women orators, adopted different biblical personae in two of her antislavery speeches of 7838 as mentioned in this paper, assuming the Esther persona, a supplicatory posture, to request equal rights for slaves and for women.
Abstract: Angelina Grimke, one of America's first women orators, adopted different biblical personae in two of her antislavery speeches of 7838. In the first, she assumed the Esther persona, a supplicatory posture, to request equal rights for slaves and for women. In the second, she took the prophetic stance of Isaiah and insisted that these rights be granted. By taking these strategies, she foreshadowed two prototypical forms of feminist appeal, forms still evident in contemporary rhetoric.
45 citations
TL;DR: The authors claim that Richard Nixon, Edward Kennedy, and their apologists drew upon popular meanings of tragedy and other related terms of fiction to obscure moral responsibility for behavior connected with Watergate and Chappaquiddick.
Abstract: This essay claims that Richard Nixon, Edward Kennedy, and their apologists drew upon popular meanings of tragedy and other related terms of fiction to obscure moral responsibility for behavior connected with Watergate and Chappaquiddick. In general, the media uncritically accepted and imitated this misappropriation of fictional language and thereby contributed to a dubious rhetorical strategy of exculpation. The unstated arguments derived from the morally positive and formally satisfying suggestions of tragedy are explored and rhetorical critics are advised to be alert to similar confusion in public discourse.
37 citations
TL;DR: Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as discussed by the authors is an apostolic epistle in the Pauline tradition, and it can be seen as not only a letter but also as a sermon.
Abstract: Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an apostolic epistle in the Pauline tradition. Following the conventions of black American Protestantism, King discovered in St. Paul a type for himself and in St. Paul's letters a literary form that he could apply to modern situations. Like the Pauline letters, King's “Letter” depends heavily on scriptual allusions and may be seen as not only a letter but also as a sermon.
37 citations
TL;DR: In his public television series Cosmos, Carl Sagan uses evolutionary science as the doctrinal basis for a cosmology that attempts to answer questions traditionally belonging to the province of religion as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In his public television series Cosmos, Carl Sagan uses evolutionary science as the doctrinal basis for a cosmology that attempts to answer questions traditionally belonging to the province of religion. Sagan's rhetoric identifies science with what is ultimate in nature by placing it at the apex of cosmic evolution, and thus he legitimates the role of the scientist in the modern world. Cosmos can be regarded as an effort to renew the religious bonds that formerly induced cooperation between science and society.
34 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that philosophy and rhetoric need to be disseminated as autonomous and self-regulating bodies of knowledge through a deconstruction of their formalized methodologies and categorical schemes.
Abstract: The central claim of this essay is that philosophy and rhetoric need to be disseminated as autonomous and self‐regulating bodies of knowledge through a deconstruction of their formalized methodologies and categorical schemes. The end result is a reunion of philosophy and rhetoric as complementing voices in the conversation of mankind, sharing a common origin in a hermeneutical space of discourse and action.
34 citations
TL;DR: The authors surveys previous research on the rhetorical nature of parables and presents a revised view of their functions as metaphors and examples, and considers the implications of this analysis for the study of narrative in religious and secular discourse.
Abstract: This essay surveys previous research on the rhetorical nature of parables and presents a revised view of their functions as metaphors and examples. It then considers the implications of this analysis for the study of narrative in religious and secular discourse.
TL;DR: The authors used comparison, sequence, and sound image relations to employ and transcend filmic and rhetorical genres, enabling him to engage the viewer in a reflective exploration of human being, and demonstrates how facts can be recontextualized into complex meanings, and how audiences can be actively involved in the process of constructing meanings.
Abstract: Frederick Wiseman's film Primate is a rhetorical documentary about the implications of human curiosity in an institutional setting—a primate research center. Wiseman uses comparison, sequence, and sound‐image relations to employ and transcend filmic and rhetorical genres, enabling him to engage the viewer in a reflective exploration of human being. Primate demonstrates how facts can be recontextualized into complex meanings, and how audiences can be actively involved in the process of constructing meanings.
TL;DR: This article explored the philosophical position of perspectivism in rhetorical communication and revealed that by thematizing a relationship between constructs and experience, one is led to an interpretive stance; by theyatizing argument and constructs, one was led to a concern for the research process.
Abstract: A “third world of inquiry” lies beyond a humanistic study of rhetoric and a social scientific study of communication. This essay explores such a world through the philosophical position of perspectivism, which reveals that by thematizing a relationship between constructs and experience, one is led to an interpretive stance; by thematizing a relationship between argument and experience, one is led to criticism; and by thematizing argument and constructs, one is led to a concern for the research process. Regardless of which relationship is emphasized, a student of the third world seeks understanding and thereby contributes to the idea that rhetorical communication is a human science.
TL;DR: The authors examines the impact of arguments about public opinion on ratification of the Panama Canal treaties in 1978 and reveals how a "fictional" pro-treaty public influenced the Senate.
Abstract: This essay examines the impact of arguments about public opinion on ratification of the Panama Canal treaties in 1978. By revealing how a “fictional” pro‐treaty public influenced the Senate, it demonstrates how a distorted but politically relevant portrait of public opinion may be constructed rhetorically from equivocal empirical data.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue against an easy logic that views imaginative literature as empirical data for the construction, proof, or refutation of communication theories, and argue for the use of literature in empirical communication research.
Abstract: This essay argues against an easy logic that views imaginative literature as empirical data for the construction, proof, or refutation of communication theories. In support of this position, the essay examines the theoretical justification underlying “Soliloquy as Self‐Disclosure” by Lawrence W. Hugenberg, Sr. and Mark J. Schaefermeyer, analyzes the methodological problems of reversibility and verisimilitude, considers the theoretical problem of abstraction from aesthetic structures, and offers four position statements prescribing the use of literature in empirical communication research.
TL;DR: In this paper, the rhetorical imprint in selected speeches of Robert M. La Follette, Sr. is discussed. But the authors focus on the rhetorical features that characterize a speaker's discourse regardless of subject, occasion, or context.
Abstract: Analysis of a speaker's lifework may reveal a rhetorical imprint, a recurring pattern of distinctive features that characterize his or her discourse regardless of subject, occasion, or context. This essay illustrates the rhetorical imprint in selected speeches of Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the primary strategy that mitigates against good communication is systematic negation and propose three propositions that would defuse the power of this strategy and lead to a new communication consciousness.
Abstract: This essay argues that the first step away from idealistic, self‐fulfilling, and divisive communication is to learn to identify and avoid symbolic forms that rationalize or otherwise negate puzzling fits between concepts and data. The primary strategy that mitigates against good communication is systematic “negation.” Three propositions are explored that would defuse the power of this strategy and lead to a new communication consciousness.
TL;DR: The authors examined extrinsic evidence, mainly historical, biographical, and epistolary, to demonstrate that George Campbell's friends and colleagues considered him a member of their Common Sense School of Philosophy, and hence an opponent of Hume, and argued that Campbell was motivated to write on philosophical topics in response to the attacks on religion and the foundations of human knowledge in the works of Hume.
Abstract: This essay examines extrinsic evidence, mainly historical, biographical, and epistolary, to demonstrate that George Campbell's friends and colleagues considered him a member of their Common Sense School of Philosophy, and, hence, an opponent of Hume It also argues that Campbell was motivated to write on philosophical topics in response to the attacks on religion and the foundations of human knowledge in the works of Hume Finally, it maintains that Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric was popular in nineteenth century America because it was in harmony with Thomas Reid's psychology and philosophy
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a grounded typology of organizational leadership behavior, and identify four major patterns of leadership: positional, political, administrative, and relational, and explore how these patterns develop and change over time.
Abstract: This study proposes a grounded typology of organizational leadership behavior. Through naturalistic observation, four major patterns of leadership are identified: positional, political, administrative, and relational. After these patterns are delineated, the ways in which the patterns develop and change over time are explored.
TL;DR: Theory and Criticism after deconstruction: Theory and criticalism after structuralism as mentioned in this paper... paper $7.95 and paper $8.95, respectively.
Abstract: ON DECONSTRUCTION: THEORY AND CRITICISM AFTER STRUCTURALISM. By Jonathan Culler. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982; pp. 307. Paper $8.95. FEROCIOUS ALPHABETS. By Denis Donoghue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984; pp. 211. Paper $7.95. LITERARY THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION. By Terry Eagleton. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983; pp. 244. Paper $9.95. CRITICISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE. By Frank Lentricchia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983; pp. 173. $15.00. REPRESENTING KENNETH BURKE. Edited by Hayden White and Margaret Brose. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982; pp. 175. $14.95.
TL;DR: The authors explores the power of reiteration as a rhetorical form and explores the relationship between rhetoric and logic, focusing on examples from Coleridge, Carlyle, and Emerson as they sought to make matters of faith, imagination, and intuition persuasive without recourse to argument.
Abstract: This essay explores the power of reiteration as a rhetorical form. Focusing on examples from Coleridge, Carlyle, and Emerson as they sought to make matters of faith, imagination, and intuition persuasive without recourse to argument, it raises the question again of the relationship of rhetoric and logic.
TL;DR: Gre Gregg as mentioned in this paper presents a study in the history of the foundation of the Church of the Redeemer, focusing on the relationship between the Church and the Bible. Columbia, S.C., University of South Carolina Press, 1984.
Abstract: SYMBOLIC INDUCEMENT AND KNOWING: A STUDY IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF RHETORIC. By Richard B. Gregg. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1984. pp. xi+ 164. $17.95.
TL;DR: The last speech of Daniel Webster, given on July seventeenth, 1850, was more pragmatic, more concerned with the legislative process, more directed at the immediate audience, and much more solicitous of Southern support than the March seventh speech.
Abstract: Daniel Webster's campaign to achieve compromise in 1850 began on March seventh, when he delivered his first and most acclaimed speech. This essay focuses on his last speech in his Senate efforts, given on July seventeenth. While the March seventh speech created an atmosphere of compromise among Northerners, it had negligible impact in the Senate. The July address was designed to correct this situation. It was more pragmatic, more concerned with the legislative process, more directed at the immediate audience, and much more solicitous of Southern support than the March seventh speech.
TL;DR: Arnhart and Beiner as mentioned in this paper presented an analysis on the RHETORIC, and discussed the role of reason in political reasoning and judgment in political decision-making in the 1980s.
Abstract: ARISTOTLE ON POLITICAL REASONING: A COMMENTARY ON THE “RHETORIC.” By Larry Arnhart. De Kalb: University of Northern Illinois Press, 1981. pp. 370. $18.00. POLITICAL JUDGMENT. By Ronald Beiner. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983. $20.00; paper $9.50.
TL;DR: The Preface to Confessions of an English Opium-Eater constitutes a fine example of what Thomas De Quincey called style in its "ministerial" capacity.
Abstract: The Preface to Confessions of an English Opium‐Eater constitutes a fine example of what Thomas De Quincey called style in its “ministerial” capacity. He achieved the ends of this style in two ways: first, he adopted a strategy of accommodation and challenge, whereby he accepted the reader's viewpoint only to undermine and replace it with another; second, his “licentious” style rehearsed the reader in the activity requisite to understand the difficult, involved text which followed.
TL;DR: The late Richard McKeon should be remembered for anything, it is his persistent argument urging the assimilation of philosophical inquiry to Ciceronian controversy and his celebration of the virtues of controversy as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: If the late Richard McKeon should be remembered for anything, it is his persistent argument urging the assimilation of philosophical inquiry to Ciceronian controversia and his celebration of the virtues of controversy.