{"id":18,"date":"2017-06-27T16:39:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T16:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachingtemplatewalls.wordpress.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2022-08-23T17:01:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T21:01:23","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eng411walls.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNever believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2015 Jean-Paul Sartre<\/p>\n

Welcome<\/b><\/h1>\n

People have been trying to convince other people to do things with language for a very long time. And it\u2019s worked, human civilizations with their massive diversity and variety have sprang up and collapsed or even survived because of the massive power of language to convince, mold, and shape the <\/span>possibilities<\/span><\/i> of thought and action. <\/span>How<\/span><\/i> this is has happened as well as how it happens today is the fundamental question of the academic inquiry known as Rhetoric.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rhetoric has many definitions both operational and conceptual. Traditionally, at its core exists \u201cour,\u201d understanding of the rhetorical situation (i.e. the static communication triangle of author, text\/language, and audience) as well as shaping the world of possible actions and possible meanings through semiotic means both expanding and limiting our understanding of possible <\/span>actions<\/span><\/i>. This course will focus on how different types of theoretical tools can be deployed to understand the influential nature of semiotic acts as well as some of the pitfalls that accompany such interactions. Fundamentally, this course will give you several ways to theorize rhetorical situations to understand <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> they work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning Outcomes<\/b><\/h1>\n

After this class, you will:<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n