A bit behind the times as usual, I'm making my second post. Over the first week of class we have mostly talked about rhetoric and built on the things we learned in Engl 103. We've coasted over ethos pathos and logos and we learned some new big words like enthymeme and syllogism that would be familiar to someone who has taken a logic class. We read some stuff by some old dead guys, but what are we really taking from the class. I believe the underlying goal of this course is to stipulate to the students that being able to use rhetoric is essential in any field. If you do ground breaking research and can't tell people about it in real life in a convincing way. On an overpopulated planet, why should I believe what you are telling me, when I know they are plenty of people who are completely full of shit. Logic is the art of truth, rhetoric the art of persuasion, making logic the more noble pursuit in my opinion, but both are useless without the other. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, If you can't convince people that what you are telling them is true then what is the point in finding truth at all. For personal satisfaction? Hmm... Conversely, If one wants to convince another of something with out knowing it is the truth what is the point of rhetoric. Surely, a convincing enough person may be able to make the whole world believe a lie, but with out the truth this sophist is merely manipulating reality and those around him, not teaching or learning anything of use. Learn one and you can be noticed, learn both and you might change the world. I guess you could just buy an Apple though.
Enough rambling, here it is your link to happyness...
Missy the cat and her poor little legs... :'[ <-----Clicky clicky
Ha man that link is a little long winded but damn funny. I couldn't agree more with your thought,
ReplyDelete"Logic is the art of truth, rhetoric the art
of persuasion, making logic the more noble
pursuit in my opinion, but both are useless
without the other."
I'm more a man of logic and science but slipping a little rhetoric into it sure does make people think a lot harder before they disagree.
I guess you're agreeing with Aristotle in saying your argument needs to be true in order for it to work... And I fully agree. Rhetoric combined with a truly logical argument can go a long way.
ReplyDeleteYeah dude logic for sure. That's why I chose engineering over politics or some other major where truth and fact don't always triumph. I took an honors class called 'The Art of Negotiation' with Dr. Vladimir Matic last fall. It met Wednesday from 6-9 which did not help to increase my interest in the class, but one comment Dr. Matic made stuck in my mind: "In politics, two plus two does not always equal four..." I prefer it when 2+2=4.
ReplyDelete