Submitted by: Submitted by sergiooliveira15
Views: 10
Words: 5343
Pages: 22
Category: Philosophy and Psychology
Date Submitted: 09/02/2015 03:12 AM
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...