Dear all,
The Colloquium for Ancient Rhetoric invites you to our second spring session of the virtual Works-in-Progress series, on Friday, April 17, 12:00-1:00 PM (Eastern).
Dr. Laura Viidebaum (NYU) will deliver a presentation of her work-in-progress on “Rhetoric as Dunamis”, followed by Q&A with registered participants.
Abstract:
"With the first two chapters of Rhetoric Book I, Aristotle enters into a fiercely contested debate among his contemporaries about the nature of rhetoric. While many appear to have been circulating manuals about the art of rhetoric conceived as a techne, Plato’s Gorgias had produced an influential negative definition of rhetoric that denied rhetoric the ability to pronounce systematically about its causes and, as non-techne, was said to be based only on experience (empeiria). And this would not be the work of Aristotle if it did not display his characteristic ‘review and reject’ approach to the previous tradition. Hence, he famously kicks off the discussion by comparing rhetoric to dialectic (1354a2-3). Since the domain of both dialectic and rhetoric is something that is common to all human beings, one can reduce this to a system, for it is possible to see the cause (τὴν αἰτίαν θεωρεῖν ἐνδέχεται) that makes people successful when they do these things from habit or accidentally (1354a10-11). Explicitly countering criticisms of rhetoric expressed in Plato’s Gorgias, Aristotle appears to side with the contemporary techne-composers and indeed, the discussion that follows promises a fuller explanation of rhetoric qua techne.
"However, after having guided the reader through several preliminary clarifications and comments on the current ‘state of the art’ of rhetoric, Aristotle arrives at a somewhat reworked definition of rhetoric in 1.2.1 that classifies rhetoric distinctly as a capacity (dunamis) rather than expertise (Rhetoric 1.2.1, 1355b26-b34). This paper takes Aristotle’s Rhetoric as a point of departure for a closer examination of this tension between techne and dunamis in the ancient rhetorical tradition. After having laid out Aristotle’s reasons for suggesting that rhetoric might, in the end, not be a techne after all, I will gesture towards some of his contemporaries who appear to have seen this issue in a similar way – that rhetoric is really a dunamis."
If you would like to attend this event, please register for the Zoom at this link: https://virginia.zoom.us/meeting/register/x0RkkXnwR0K5HhOK7XxmvQ#/registration
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Registered participants will receive a confirmation link. There is no PDF because this CAR event will be a presentation (not a paper) in progress. Please write us if you have any questions or challenges with registration.
Sincerely,
Jackie Arthur-Montagne (U. Virginia) and Giulia Maltagliati (Cambridge)