The Rhetorical Situation

from Philosophy and Rhetoric, vol. 1 (1968) pp. 1-14

The Rhetorical Situation

Lloyd F. Bitzer

If someone says, That is a dangerous situation, his words suggest

the presence of events, persons, or objects which threaten him,

someone else, or something of value. If someone remarks, I find

myself in an emharrassing situation, again the statement implies

certain situational characteristics. If someone remarks that he

found himself in an ethical situation, we understand that he probably either contemplated or made some choice of action from a

sense of duty or obligation or with a view to the Good. In other

words, there are circumstances of this or that kind of structure

which are recognized as ethical, dangerous, or embarrassing.

What characteristics, then, are implied when one refers to "the

rhetorical situation" — the context in which speakers or writers

create rhetorical discourse? Perhaps this question is puzzling because "situation" is not a standard term in the vocabulary of

rhetorical theory. "Audience" is standard; so also are "speaker,"

"subject," "occasion," and "speech." If I were to ask, "What is a

rhetorical audience?" or "What is a rhetorical subject?" — the

reader would catch the meaning of my question.

When I ask. What is a rhetorical situation?, I want to know

the nature of those contexts in which speakers or writers create

rhetorical discourse: How should they be described? What are

their characteristics? Why and how do they result in the creation of rhetoric? By analogy, a theorist of science might well

ask, What are the characteristics of situations which inspire

scientific thought? A philosopher might ask, What is the nature

of the situation in which a philosopher "does philosophy"? And

a theorist of poetrj' might ask. How shall we describe the eontext in which poetrj' comes into existence?

Lloyd F. Bitzer is Associate Professor of Speech, Univensity of Wisconsin,

Madison. This paper was presented as a public lecture at...