CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE:  Following Douglas Ehninger and James Golden's lead, the course will present rhetorical theory as a series of distinct, yet related systems of rhetoric beginning with Plato and continuing to the present.  The key question that will provide a unifying theme for the course is: For each historical period, and for rhetoric taken as a whole, what is the relationship between rhetorical theory and practice?
Portrait of Aristotle
Aristotle  384-322 B.C.

Introduction: Systems of Rhetoric

Unit I--Ancient Rhetoric
          Plato
          Aristotle
          Quintilian

Exam: Question #1: How can this period of rhetorical  history and theory be understood to constitute a rhetorical system?
          Question #2: Within this period of rhetorical history and theory, what seems to be the relationship between rhetorical theory and rhetorical practice?

Unit II--The British Period
          Hugh Blair
          George Campbell
          Richard Whately

Exam: Question #1: How can this period of rhetorical  history and theory be understood to constitute a rhetorical system?
          Question #2: Within this period of rhetorical history and theory, what seems to be the relationship between rhetorical theory and rhetorical practice?

Unit III--Contemporary Rhetoric
          Richards
          Toulmin
          Burke
          Foucault
Photo of Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault 1926-1984 A.D.

Exam: Question #1: How can this period of rhetorical  history and theory be understood to constitute a rhetorical system?
          Question #2: Within this period of rhetorical history and theory, what seems to be the relationship between rhetorical theory and rhetorical practice?