andreaefthymiou Uncategorized

Commonplaces & Common Topics: More Heuristics for Building Arguments

We’ll build on the work you’ve been doing using kairos and stasis theory as tools for invention by adding additional tools to your repertoire: common topics and commonplaces.

Crowley and Hawhee define commonplaces as sentiments or “statements that regularly circulate within members of a community,” while topics “refer to any procedure that generates arguments” (89). Common topics operate much like stasis theory in that common topics encourage rhetors to consider conjecture (if an issue exists), degree (if an issue is better or worse than something else), and possibility (the likelihood of occurrences related to the issue at hand). We’ll begin class today by continuing the invention process you performed in groups using stasis theory to consider the common topics of degree and possibility (93-96).

In-Class Group Work

Return to your group’s poster. Using the small post-it notes, add common topics of degree and possibility to your poster, trying deliberately to invent arguments that you did not initially consider.

Homework

Review Chapter 4 “The Common Topics and the Commonplaces.” We’ll finish working in this chapter during next class.

Work Cited

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 5th ed., Pearson Education, 2012.

andreaefthymiou Uncategorized

Achieving Stasis: Continuing Our Rhetorical Exercise

Photo by Pixabay.com

The Four Questions of Stasis

Let’s start by reviewing the fours questions of stasis AND expand them in the way Crowley and Hawhee suggest (64-72):

  • Conjecture: Does an issue exist? Did it happen? Is it true? Where did the issue come from? What was its cause?
  • Definition: What kind of thing or event is it? To what larger class of thing does this issue belong? What are its parts?
  • Quality: Was it right or wrong? Should it be sought or avoided? Is it more desirable than other alternatives?
  • Policy: What should we do? Should some action be taken? What actions are possible or desirable? How will proposed changes make things better?

REMEMBER: Moving towards stasis, using the above questions, is a tool to help rhetors invent thorough arguments. I’d like us to use the above questions of stasis when looking at one of our classmate’s second blog post. We can try to understand to what degree the post is answering each stasis question, with the goal of helping that classmate invent the most thorough argument possible.

Using Stasis to Develop Your Arguments

Working in pairs, and using the materials provided, go back to your second blog posts, re-reading them for attention to the questions of stasis. Take turns doing the following: Divide your sheet of paper into four parts: conjecture, definition, quality, and policy. Ask yourselves the questions associated with each point of stasis and write your answers to the corresponding parts.

Homework

Read Chapter 4 “The Common Topics and the Commonplaces: Finding the Available Means” (ARCS 88-117).

Research. Building on the issue you identified in Blog Post 2, use the expanded stasis questions (64-72) to develop your argument about your issue. Develop at least two propositions or points to answer each question. Write down all the propositions you can think of, even the wildest and most imaginative, even those with which you do not necessarily align yourself. You are also responsible for citing at least two sources that represent different approaches to the issue in your answers. PLEASE INCLUDE AN IMAGE OF THE WORK YOU DID IN CLASS TODAY! THIS IS DUE AS BLOG POST 3 BEFORE CLASS ON MONDAY, 9/23.

andreaefthymiou Uncategorized

What’s the Issue? Stasis Theory as a Tool for Inventing Arguments

The word “argument” sometimes conjures ideas of fighting irreconcilably, where one side has to win ruthlessly to be successful, and the other side must be pummeled.

Photo by Gratisography on Pexels.com

As a rhetorician, I’d like us to shift this understanding of argument to consider how argument can make meaning persuasively, presenting a careful case to help others listen, and maybe even to effect their thinking. To prepare to make a strong argument–one that will inspire someone who doesn’t necessarily agree to listen–stasis theory can help.

Work together to define stasis*

*See Chapter 3 in ARCS and add collective notes here.

Using the commonly framed debate between pro-choice or pro-life positions, we’ll use “the four questions” (ARCS 63) to move towards stasis on that issue. After this collaborative exercise, you’ll work independently (or in pairs) to achieve stasis with the same four questions on the issue you identified in Blog Post 2.

Homework

Read Chapter 3 “Achieving Stasis by Asking the Right Questions” (ARCS 56-87).

Research. Building on the issue you identified in Blog Post 2, use the four questions (ARCS 63) to achieve stasis on your issue. Develop at least two propositions or arguments to answer each question. Write down all the propositions you can think of, even the wildest and most imaginative, even those with which you do not necessarily align yourself. You are also responsible for citing at least two sources that represent different approaches to the issue. THIS IS DUE AS BLOG POST 3 BEFORE CLASS NEXT MONDAY, 9/23.