Title: Teaching Discourse Study To Resist General Discourse Theories.
Abstract: If an instructor teaches in a rhetoric and composition program, one of most important ways to teach discourse study as a resistance to discourse theory is by tracing fundamental founding dichotomies of discourse theory through history of rhetorical theory, examining how assumptions of legitimacy of such founding dichotomies has conditioned development of current understanding of rhetoric. A graduate course on rhetoric and hermeneutics explores relationships between reading and writing as they are understood in today's theory and practice. The guide used is Kathy Eden's 1997 text Hermeneutics and Rhetorical Tradition: Chapters in Ancient Legacy and Its Humanist Reception. One controversy over disputed texts which Cicero cites is the discrepancy between writer's words and writer's intention, routinely formulated as either 'scriptum' versus 'voluntas' or ' scriptum' versus 'sententia.' Eden traces this assumption back to Aristotle's Poetics. Augustine's description of tropes as topics of interpretive invention rather than as grammatical deviations is possible because he never makes an ontological distinction between signs and in first place. Introducing graduate students to thinkers such as Augustine enables them to engage history of discourse about discourse more critically. (NKA) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are best that can be made from original document. ******************************************************************************** Stephen R. Yarbrough Department of English The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC 27412-5001 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Eirl This document has been reproduced as received from person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. ° Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 Teaching Discourse Study to Resist General Edscourse Theories Let me begin with a: definition: Discourse studies, as opposed to discourse theories, are explanations of communication that do not, consider or in distinction from things and nature.1 Discourse studies assume that utterances exist--as vocal noises, marks on pages, blips on screens--but that rules and conventions of language and culture do not
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
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