chapter 8

exigence

"an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be"

constraints

"persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence"

How does Richard Vatz oppose Bitzer?

Rhetorical situation is real and observable, but whereas Bitzer addresses the events, Vatz addresses that "Meaning is not in the events"

epidemic discourse

speeches of praise or blame, usually delivered to audiences assembled during ceremonial occasions, and oriented to the present moment, while calling on the past to inform the future

deliberative discourse

rhetoric that addresses broad public and concerns the merits of proposals for future courses of action

forensic discourse

rhetoric that occurs what a designated audience (such as a jury) judges the arguments about the events in the past and accusations of wrongdoing

What is the relationship between audience, exigence, and constraints?

-Audience can be influenced and be mediators of change -exigence is imperfection marked by urgency, a defect -constraints are things that make the exigence difficult to be solved "If exigence cannot be solved through discourse then it is not exigence"

What is Lloyd Bitzer's definition of "rhetorical situation?"

-the context that a problem is occurring or has the potential to occur, we can solve the problem through discussion (rhetoric) and can limit human decision or action to change the problem in some way -the fact that there is rhetoric means there must be a rhetorical situation (cannot happen in reverse) 1. We know rhetoric is situational because it responds to something that came before it 2. Rhetoric is a mode of changing reality 3. rhetoric comes into the situation because the ______ invited the utterance

What does the book say about the exigence, constraints, and audience?

-the exigence and audience are perceived by the rhetor, so they are not a consistent thing. -constraints are also perceived by the rhetor, whatever limits the rhetor is only specific to THAT speaker, different to every person

How do we know a response is fitting?

-works great in theory but not so great in reality -must be a fitting response to the scenario -a euology is not a fitting response to morning because a speech about the deceased is not gonna just make you forget about the loved one -the idea of a fitting response is a question of interpretation (can be expansive or tight)

What are the four types of how you should respond to a rhetorical situation?

1. conformity 2. 3. desecration- knows appropriate decision to a situation and then completely ignores it (Burke calls this 'incongruity') 4. contextual reconstruction

What two differences between Bitzer and Vatz are about rhetorical situation?

Bitzer says that rhetoric is situational. Vatz says that situations are rhetorical. Bitzer says exigence strongly invites utterance. Vatz says that utterance strongly invites exigence. -The rhetoric we use creates the problem, but we cannot get to the idea that our realities are symbolically constructed ends on a quote by Edelman: "Rhetoric is a cause not an effect" "Reality is created by language and all of the things that are competing for your attention" -the language you want to focus on then shapes reality

According to Vatz, how do we have objective situations?

WE DON'T. We gather information in two ways: 1. Learn from others on what they chose to communicate to us AND then translate that info into a meaning on face value or interpret other meanings based on a certain day. 2. Meaning is created by rhetors because situations are symbolically constructed, created by language, and meaning only occurs when you assign it meaning

Book definition of Rhetorical Situation

a complex of persons, events, objects and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of exigence -book tries to say we need both Bitzer and Vatz to understand a rhetorical situation -once we come into an environment are symbolic interaction with it defines our reaction with it

antecedent genre

a genre that arises because of an audiences expectations based on the ways others have responded to similar situations

nonparticipation

a response that denies the legitimacy of the rhetorical situation

fitting response

a response that meets the expectations of the rhetorical situation

desecration

a response that violates what would be considered an appropriate response; it participates, but in a way that overtly challenges expectations

genre

a rhetorical form created by the recurrent elements of the rhetorical situation, which create clusters of discourse that share style, substance, and purpose

rhetorical audience

an audience that "consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change"

conformity

conventional response to a situation

Give an example of exigence.

ex. Hurricane Katrina is not the exigence, the exigence is how you react to Katrina and how you get everyone outta NOLA

Give an example of constraints.

ex. if message is to get everyone out of town, a constraint might be that people don't wanna leave their homes, too many people leave at once, hard to reach everyone, poor people wouldn't have transportation to get outta town

contextual reconstruction

is a response in which a rhetor attempts to redefine the situation