Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What came first the situation or the rhetoric?
Here is my stab at the reading, and first stab at blog posting...
What came first the rhetorical situation or the rhetorical discourse?
Bitzer says the situation comes first, “a rhetorical situation must exist as a necessary condition of rhetorical discourse.”(6) For Bitzer, there can’t be rhetorical discourse before/ outside of rhetorical situations. And for a situation to be rhetorical several specifications must be met.
First is the presence of exigence, or an issue that needs to be dealt with, a problem that needs to be handled soon, a time sensitive matter that can only be remedied with some sort of change in human thinking or behavior. Secondly an audience is necessary. This audience must mediate the change intended by the discourse. Thirdly for a situation to be rhetorical it must have sources of constraint. Constraints are basically factors that could possibly inhibit the decisions and actions required for the desired change to happen.
Bitzer also argues that here are fitting and ill-fitting responses to rhetorical situations. It is up to the rhetor to interpret the situation correctly and make a fitting response to yield the desired modifications to reality.
I feel this applies to webdesign because as facilitators of information exchange our clients and audiences have needs within and in response to unique rhetorical situations. Understanding/“reading” theses rhetorical situations will enable us as designers to make purposeful design choices. Knowing the issue at hand, specific obstacles and desired actions/change/results will help us create a fitting response to situational needs.
A question I have is would it be possible for a rhetor to create something new or a desired situation with rhetorical discourse, without it being a response?
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Can we create an "original" situation? Interesting question...My gut response is no-every communication exist within a community, medium, framework, etc. which we understand through some language/code. Even our intrapersonal conversations stem from our understanding of ourselves which is influenced by how we've been taught to see ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYour question reminds me of the continued quest for authenticity and originality...Can anything completely original exist or is the originality based on a new configuration or other materials?
If we cant make original situations, can our responses be in original ways or have a "new" take on a situation? How much would have to change for an ill-fitting response to be accepted or adopted as fitting? Is it possible for rhetorical situations to reoccur throughout history, or does the resulting change in reality make that impossible? (is it only possible if the rhetoric failed) Or if similar rhetorical situations are repeated can the "fitness" of the response change? I"m not sure if I'm way off here...
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