Rhetorical theory as heuristic and moral: A pedagogical justification

Critical-Rhetorical Ethnography: Rethinking the Place and Process of Rhetoric

“…Moving rhetoric toward participation in public advocacy will alter rhetoric's stance in social affairs, more in line with Brummett's (1984) understanding of rhetorical theory as heuristic, moral, and able to teach the public to be better civic actors. He remarked, ''Rhetorical theory addresses, or should address, action in real life rather than the store of scholarly knowledge; and so the method for carrying it out or applying it is nothing more than the everyday real life actions of looking and hearing with sensibilities sharpened by the theory'' (p. 105, emphasis in original).…”

“…I agree with the spirit of his comments and wish to push them further. If I may interpret him in this way, Brummett (1984) commented upon the relationship between theory and method and their potential for affecting society. In other words, teaching rhetoric can prepare students to evaluate rhetorical transactions effectively.…”

“We're at Now, Now”:Spaceballsas Parodic Tourism

“…''[A] rhetorical theory,'' explained Brummett (1984b), ''is a form, pattern, or recipe, a statement in the abstract, of how a person might experience a rhetorical transaction'' (p. 103). This particular essay is grounded in Kenneth Burke's theory of discourse as equipment for living.…”

Contextualizing musical rhetoric: A critical reading of the pixies' “Rock Music”

“…Placing context at the forefront of musical analysis and emphasizing the critic's own location in relation to the musical text is described by Brummett (1995) as "representative participa(tion)," a process in which a critic would describe how he or she "actually did assemble message sets in a rhetorical transaction" (p. 658). Rhetorical theory, in Brummett's view, is the articulation of the "logic or pattern behind that experience ... how anybody in a given time and space might have experienced a rhetorical transaction" (p. 658).…”