- CMS/W, 14E-303, MIT
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
- Professor of Rhetoric & Comparative Media Studiesedit
Article describes rhetorical use of mathematics, rhetoric IN mathematics, and mathematics AS rhetorical.
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Criticism
At no other point in human history have the definitions of "woman" and "man," "male" and "female," "masculine" and "feminine," been more contentious than now. This book advances... more
At no other point in human history have the definitions of "woman" and "man," "male" and "female," "masculine" and "feminine," been more contentious than now. This book advances a pragmatic approach to the act of defining that acknowledges the important ethical dimensions of our definitional practices. Increased transgender rights and visibility has been met with increased opposition, controversy, and even violence. Who should have the power to define the meanings of sex and gender? What values and interests are advanced by competing definitions? Should an all-boys’ college or high school allow transgender boys to apply? Should transgender women be allowed to use the women’s bathroom? How has growing recognition of intersex conditions challenged our definitions of sex/gender? In this timely intervention, Edward Schiappa examines the key sites of debate including schools, bathrooms, the military, sports, prisons, and feminism, drawing attention to the political, practical, and ethical dimensions of the act of defining itself. This is an important text for students and scholars in gender studies, philosophy, communication, and sociology
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Contents: E. Schiappa, O. Swartz, Introduction. Section 1:Earliest Greek Rhetoric. J.T. Kirby, The "Great Triangle" in Early Greek Rhetoric and Poetics (1990). K.E. Wilkerson, From Hero to Citizen: Persuasion in Early Greece... more
Contents: E. Schiappa, O. Swartz, Introduction. Section 1:Earliest Greek Rhetoric. J.T. Kirby, The "Great Triangle" in Early Greek Rhetoric and Poetics (1990). K.E. Wilkerson, From Hero to Citizen: Persuasion in Early Greece (1982). A.J. Karp, Homeric Origins of Ancient Rhetoric (1977). Section II:Sophistic Rhetorical Theory. J. Poulakos, Toward a Sophistic Definition of Rhetoric (1983). E. Schiappa, Sophistic Rhetoric: Oasis or Mirage? (1991). Section III:Platonic Rhetorical Theory. E. Black, Plato's View of Rhetoric (1958) C. Kauffman, The Axiological Foundations of Plato's Theory of Rhetoric (1982). Section IV:Isocratean Rhetoric. W. Jaeger, The Rhetoric of Isocrates and Its Cultural Ideal (1943). E. Rummel, Isocrates' Ideal of Rhetoric: Criteria of Evaluation (1979). Section V:Aristotelian Rhetorical Theory. C. Lord, The Intention of Aristotle's 'Rhetoric' (1981). J.H. McBurney, The Place of the Enthymeme in Rhetorical Theory (1936). R.C. Husema...
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Mnemosyne
Ronald Walter Greene’s essay “Another Materialist Rhetoric,” originally published in 1998, won the National Communication Association’s 2013 Charles H. Woolbert Research Award. The award recognizes a publication that has stood the test of... more
Ronald Walter Greene’s essay “Another Materialist Rhetoric,” originally published in 1998, won the National Communication Association’s 2013 Charles H. Woolbert Research Award. The award recognizes a publication that has stood the test of time and has become a stimulus for new conceptualizations of speech communication phenomena. Greene’s essay won the award due to its influence in rhetorical studies and beyond. In November 2014, those of us involved in this special section participated in a panel intended to acknowledge and explore the importance of Greene’s essay. I was sufficiently impressed with the quality of the essays that I contacted Professor DeChaine about the possibility of publishing them as a special section. I am delighted that he agreed to do so. “Another Materialist Rhetoric” has become a touchstone for critical/cultural approaches to rhetorical studies. The essay provides a critical re-reading of the materialist traditions of rhetorical studies as tacking back and forth between a constitutive and instrumental approach to rhetorical effects. The result is a three-part intervention that aims to re-orient the terrain of rhetorical studies toward the problems of governance more than the success or failure of persuasion, per se. First, Greene advocates an alternative model of rhetorical effects based less on symbolic and/or representational dynamics and more based on the institutional uptake of rhetorical practices as techniques and technologies of deliberation. Second, by focusing on institutional uptake, Greene provides a way to use insights from cultural studies about articulation as a method for mapping the power dynamics of rhetorical practices. Third, by positing rhetoric as technique and technology, as opposed to symbolic action or representation, the essay creates a space to re-think the rhetorical significance of media forms and institutions as contributing less to the fragmentation of contemporary culture and more to the governance of specific populations. The primary criterion for the Woolbert is the enduring significance and influence of a publication. In this case, the evidence is clear that Greene’s essay has proven itself to be enormously influential. The available evidence for such a claim is both quantitative and qualitative. When Greene’s essay was nominated for theWoolbert, Google Scholar reported 121 citations of the article since its publication, over one-third of which occurred since 2010. As I write this introduction in mid-May, 2015, the total is up
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I want to-tweak the panel's topic by suggesting that if there is a problem with an overabundant pluralism in argumentation theory, one way to address the problem is by agreeing on shared purposes for the study of argument. Some years... more
I want to-tweak the panel's topic by suggesting that if there is a problem with an overabundant pluralism in argumentation theory, one way to address the problem is by agreeing on shared purposes for the study of argument. Some years ago Robert Rowland argued that one way to identify an argument field is by identifying a discourse community's shared purpose (1981). While it is difiicult to identify a common theoretical framework for those writing under the sign of “argument,” we may have a better chance to constitute a ...
How did rhetoric begin and what was it before it was called “rhetoric”? Must art have a name to be considered art? What is the difference between eloquence and rhetoric? And what were the differences among poets, philosophers, sophists,... more
How did rhetoric begin and what was it before it was called “rhetoric”? Must art have a name to be considered art? What is the difference between eloquence and rhetoric? And what were the differences among poets, philosophers, sophists, and rhetoricians before Plato emphasized―or perhaps invented―their differences? In Logos without Rhetoric: The Arts of Language before Plato, Robin Reames attempts to intervene in these and other questions by examining the status of rhetorical theory in texts that predate Plato’s coining of the term “rhetoric” (c. 380 B.C.E.). From Homer and Hesiod to Parmenides and Heraclitus to Gorgias, Theodorus, and Isocrates, the case studies contained here examine the status of the discipline of rhetoric prior to and therefore in the absence of the influence of Plato and Aristotle’s full-fledged development of rhetorical theory in the fourth century B.C.E. The essays in this volume make a case for a porous boundary between theory and practice and promote skepticism about anachronistic distinctions between myth and reason and between philosophy and rhetoric in the historiography of rhetoric’s beginning. The result is an enlarged understanding of the rhetorical content of pre-fourth-century Greek texts.
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In aseries of publications Edward Schiappa1 has argued for a fundamental reappraisal of the history of rhetoric in the fifth and fourth centuries B. C. Schiappa contends that the term Ql]LOQLXf) itself was coined by Plato in the course of... more
In aseries of publications Edward Schiappa1 has argued for a fundamental reappraisal of the history of rhetoric in the fifth and fourth centuries B. C. Schiappa contends that the term Ql]LOQLXf) itself was coined by Plato in the course of composing the Gorfias, as part of a deliberate effort to limit the scope and function 0 the fifth-century sophistic 'art of Myor:;', and in particular to discredit the training offered by his educational riyal Isocrates. In contrast to the discipline of 'rhetoric', which Plato named and defined and thereby in a real sense created, the earlier sophistic art of discourse represented, according to Schiappa, a much broader range of skills in reasoning and argumentation, which was not yet clearly differentiated from 'philosophy' as aseparate discipline. Plato's invention of the name and notion of Ql]tOQLXf) constitutes, in Schiappa's view, a revolutionary conceptual breakthrough in the development of rhetoric into the the...
This article begins by revisiting the Greek origins of the terms “rhetoric” and “philosophy” from a nominalist and antiessentialist perspective. Though both terms were given early shape by Plato, Isocrates offered a different take on... more
This article begins by revisiting the Greek origins of the terms “rhetoric” and “philosophy” from a nominalist and antiessentialist perspective. Though both terms were given early shape by Plato, Isocrates offered a different take on philosophia that arguably is equally legitimate, even if largely neglected historically. In contemporary scholarship, the question is not what is rhetoric or what is philosophy, but what can be gained by deploying rhetorical and philosophical vocabularies to describe and understand the world. Given the problems facing us today, philosophers and rhetoric scholars should engage each other to address challenges where our interests converge.
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Edward Schiappa published a series of articles and a book in 1990 and 1991 that, collectively, challenged the dominant narrative concerning the Older Sophists and early Greek Rhetorical Theory as well as calling into question certain... more
Edward Schiappa published a series of articles and a book in 1990 and 1991 that, collectively, challenged the dominant narrative concerning the Older Sophists and early Greek Rhetorical Theory as well as calling into question certain revisionist historical accounts. In this essay the author provides a narrative about those projects and the responses they elicited in the hope that it provides insights about the production of those publications, as well as an opportunity to revisit certain theoretical and methodological concerns that continue to be relevant to historians of rhetoric and philosophy.
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This chapter presumes that the history of Greek rhetoric is coterminous with the development of a specialized vocabulary deployed to describe and organize activities we recognize now as rhetorical theory, pedagogy, and practice. The... more
This chapter presumes that the history of Greek rhetoric is coterminous with the development of a specialized vocabulary deployed to describe and organize activities we recognize now as rhetorical theory, pedagogy, and practice. The origins of Greek rhetorical theory and pedagogy can be traced back to the sophists of the fifth century B.C.E., though the word “rhetoric” (rhētorikē)—along with other “disciplining” words such as dialectic, eristic, and antilogic—cannot be found prior to Plato. Rhetoric becomes disciplined in the fourth-century writings of Aristotle, though a philosophical oratory (or an oratorical philosophy) is described by Isocrates. In the postclassical era, rhetorical theory and pedagogy become increasingly specialized, with Aristotle’s taxonomical approach to theorizing typically combined with an Isocratean approach to practical pedagogy. Other notable developments include the detailed study of style, the emergence of stasis theory, and the advancement of a gradua...
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The debate over same-sex marriage in the US is taking place in the legal sphere in the court system as well as in the public sphere leading up to various state ballot initiatives. In an earlier project, I analyzed the differences in... more
The debate over same-sex marriage in the US is taking place in the legal sphere in the court system as well as in the public sphere leading up to various state ballot initiatives. In an earlier project, I analyzed the differences in argumentation in the technical and public spheres in 2008 concerning Proposition 8 in California (Schiappa 2012). My colleagues and I found that the norms and practices of constitutional argument in the technical sphere filter out specific arguments—particularly fear appeals and claims based on religious beliefs ...
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This book contributes to the history of classical rhetoric by focusing on how key terms helped to conceptualize and organize the study and teaching of oratory. David Timmerman and Edward Schiappa demonstrate that the intellectual and... more
This book contributes to the history of classical rhetoric by focusing on how key terms helped to conceptualize and organize the study and teaching of oratory. David Timmerman and Edward Schiappa demonstrate that the intellectual and political history of Greek rhetorical theory can be enhanced by a better understanding of the emergence of" terms of art" in texts about persuasive speaking and argumentation. The authors provide a series of studies to support their argument. They describe Plato's disciplining of dialgesthai into the Art of ...
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We propose a communication analogue to Allport's (1954) Contact Hypothesis called the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (PCH). If people process mass-mediated parasocial interaction in a manner similar to interpersonal... more
We propose a communication analogue to Allport's (1954) Contact Hypothesis called the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (PCH). If people process mass-mediated parasocial interaction in a manner similar to interpersonal interaction, then the socially beneficial functions of intergroup contact may result from parasocial contact. We describe and test the PCH with respect to majority group members' level of prejudice in three studies, two involving parasocial contact with gay men (Six Feet Under and Queer Eye for the Straight ...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Death, Death Studies, Fear, Medicine, and 11 moreTelevision, Students, Humans, Surveys, United States, Female, College Students, Male, Universities, Adult, and Indexation
This essay constructs a language-centered perspective toward the social rhetorical construction of knowledge by juxtaposing Kenneth Burke's phi losophy of language with Thomas S. Kuhn's philosophy of science. Specifi cally, my... more
This essay constructs a language-centered perspective toward the social rhetorical construction of knowledge by juxtaposing Kenneth Burke's phi losophy of language with Thomas S. Kuhn's philosophy of science. Specifi cally, my reading is of Burkes "Four Master Tropes" (Grammar503-17) and related writings in Kuhn's corpus. Burke has commanded attention in a variety of fields, including sociology, history, and literary criticism. With respect to his work on language and communication, Marie Hochmuth Nichols declared in 1952 that Burke was "the most profound student of rhetoric" in America (144). Forty years later, few would disagree. Further more, Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions has "had a wider academic influence than any other single book of the last twenty years" (Gutting v). In particular, Kuhn is credited as being the "father of current social construc tionist thought" in a variety of disciplines (Bruffee 779). Ac...
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CJO Search Widget (The Classical Review) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Gorgias (R.) Ioli (ed., trans.) Gorgia di Leontini. Su ciò che non è.(Spudasmata 130.)... more
CJO Search Widget (The Classical Review) What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Gorgias (R.) Ioli (ed., trans.) Gorgia di Leontini. Su ciò che non è.(Spudasmata 130.) Pp. 205. Hildesheim, Zurich and New York: Georg Olms, 2010. Paper, €37.80. ISBN: 978-3-487-14308-8. ... (R.) Ioli (ed., trans.) Gorgia di Leontini. Su ciò che non è.(Spudasmata 130.) Pp. 205. Hildesheim, Zurich and New York: Georg Olms, 2010. Paper, €37.80. ISBN: 978-3-487-14308-8. ... Gorgias (R.) Ioli (ed., trans.) ...
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In this essay, I outline thè différent schools of interprétation of Gorgias's text known as On-Not Being or On Nature () with respect to thè key word esti as a prolegomenon to a detailed account of Gorgias's arguments.... more
In this essay, I outline thè différent schools of interprétation of Gorgias's text known as On-Not Being or On Nature () with respect to thè key word esti as a prolegomenon to a detailed account of Gorgias's arguments. In this paper, I simply want to make thè important point that it is impossible to translate, let alone describe, Gorgias's arguments without imposing a particular interprétation. The syntax is ambiguous and one cannot translate thè ever-present esti without importing a préférence for one reading or another. Accordingly, it seems ...
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We pose such a question for readers of this Companion to consider because what one studies and how one goes about the study of Greek rhetoric ultimately are decisions fueled by the values, interests, and purposes one brings to the table.... more
We pose such a question for readers of this Companion to consider because what one studies and how one goes about the study of Greek rhetoric ultimately are decisions fueled by the values, interests, and purposes one brings to the table. The extant texts of classical Greece are mute until read, but how they are read and the purposes to which such readings are put are contingent matters. The point worth stressing at the very outset is that all accounts of classical Greek rhetoric are necessarily partial; that is, no single account can ...
The normal definition used by scholars for what constitutes an interpersonal relationship is usually some version of the developmental perspective (Miller & Steinberg, 1970) that requires some exchange of information with the expectation... more
The normal definition used by scholars for what constitutes an interpersonal relationship is usually some version of the developmental perspective (Miller & Steinberg, 1970) that requires some exchange of information with the expectation of a continued exchange or self-disclosure of information. This definition is an extension or application of what constitutes a small group for small group com-munication and is an attempt to avoid a definition of a group that would include a collection of individuals at a stop waiting for the bus. The ...
I thank Scott Consigny (hereafter SC) for his praise and for providing such a thoughtful commentary. I have great respect for SC's scholarship and I am delighted by the opportunity to engage him in dialogue. I hope that RSQ readers... more
I thank Scott Consigny (hereafter SC) for his praise and for providing such a thoughtful commentary. I have great respect for SC's scholarship and I am delighted by the opportunity to engage him in dialogue. I hope that RSQ readers find our exchange edifying and entertaining. In this short reply I must limit my remarks to the argument that SC's account of Protagoras (hereafter P) is not historically defensible.
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Gorgias's Helen has earned a central place in the revival of interest in sophistic and neo‐sophistic rhetorical studies in the late twentieth century. This essay offers a “predisciplinary” historical analysis of the text and makes... more
Gorgias's Helen has earned a central place in the revival of interest in sophistic and neo‐sophistic rhetorical studies in the late twentieth century. This essay offers a “predisciplinary” historical analysis of the text and makes five arguments: 1) Identifying Gorgias' Helen as an “epideictic” speech is a somewhat misleading characterization; 2) The speech is not a veiled defense of the Art of Rhetoric; 3) Gorgias may have inaugurated the prose genre of encomia; 4) Gorgias advanced fifth‐century BCE “rationalism” by enacting certain innovations in ...
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THE November 2000 issue of QJS contains an essay by Richard A. Cherwitz and James W. Hikins (hereafter CH) titled" Climbing the Academic Ladder: A Critique of Provincialism in Contemporary Rhetoric." 1 CH critique the... more
THE November 2000 issue of QJS contains an essay by Richard A. Cherwitz and James W. Hikins (hereafter CH) titled" Climbing the Academic Ladder: A Critique of Provincialism in Contemporary Rhetoric." 1 CH critique the intellectual integrity of what are arguably three of the most significant and productive lines of research in the last thirty-plus years of rhetorical studies. Their critique requires an answer, not only because we believe they are wrong, but also because an analysis of how they go wrong may be useful for those wrestling with ...
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Television has an opportunity to influence beliefs about groups with which individuals typically may have little direct social contact. This study describes a synthesis of the Contact Hypothesis and the concept of Parasocial Interaction... more
Television has an opportunity to influence beliefs about groups with which individuals typically may have little direct social contact. This study describes a synthesis of the Contact Hypothesis and the concept of Parasocial Interaction to pose what we call the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis to test whether exposure to gay men on Will & Grace can influence attitudes toward gay men in general. Based on a study of 245 university students, this study examines the relationships among number and intimacy of gay social contacts, parasocial interaction, viewing frequency of Will & Grace, and scores on Herek's Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians scale. Increased viewing frequency and parasocial interaction were found to correlate with lower levels of sexual prejudice-a relationship that was most pronounced for those with the least amount of social contact with lesbians and gay men.
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Traducción de Protagoras and Logos (2003, South Carolina Press). El libro propone una doctrina consistente de Protágoras de Abdera sobre el testimonio de los fragmentos más importantes conservados.
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In Defining Reality, Edward Schiappa argues that definitional disputes should be treated less as philosophical questions of “is”and more as sociopolitical questions of “ought.” Instead of asking “What is X?” he advocates that definitions... more
In Defining Reality, Edward Schiappa argues that definitional disputes should be treated less as philosophical questions of “is”and more as sociopolitical questions of “ought.” Instead of asking “What is X?” he advocates that definitions be considered as proposals for shared knowledge and institutional norms, as in “What should count as X in context Y, given our needs and interests?”
Covering a broad scope of argument in rhetorical theory, as well as in legal, medical, scientific, and environmental debates, Schiappa shows the act of defining to be a specialized and learned behavior, and therefore one that can be studied and improved. In response to theories that deem discourse to be persuasive, the author asserts that all discourse is definitive discourse that contributes to our construction of a shared reality.
Defining Reality sheds light on our methods of creating common truths through language and argumentation and forces us to reconsider the contexts, limitations, and adaptability of our definitions. Hinging on a synthesis of arguments regarding the significance of definitional practices, the book is bolstered by a series of case studies of debates about rape, euthanasia, abortion, and political and environmental issues. These case studies ground Schiappa’s concepts in reality and delineate the power of public discourse within legal contexts. Ranging widely among disciplines from philosophy and classical philology to constitutional law and cognitive psychology, this study substantially contributes to the scholarship of rhetoric and argumentation, particularly as they function in the realm of public discourse.
Covering a broad scope of argument in rhetorical theory, as well as in legal, medical, scientific, and environmental debates, Schiappa shows the act of defining to be a specialized and learned behavior, and therefore one that can be studied and improved. In response to theories that deem discourse to be persuasive, the author asserts that all discourse is definitive discourse that contributes to our construction of a shared reality.
Defining Reality sheds light on our methods of creating common truths through language and argumentation and forces us to reconsider the contexts, limitations, and adaptability of our definitions. Hinging on a synthesis of arguments regarding the significance of definitional practices, the book is bolstered by a series of case studies of debates about rape, euthanasia, abortion, and political and environmental issues. These case studies ground Schiappa’s concepts in reality and delineate the power of public discourse within legal contexts. Ranging widely among disciplines from philosophy and classical philology to constitutional law and cognitive psychology, this study substantially contributes to the scholarship of rhetoric and argumentation, particularly as they function in the realm of public discourse.