Unit I—Antiquity: Ancient Greece and Rome
Week 1
1/8: Corax/Tisias, Gorgias (483-375 BCE), “Encomium of Helen”
Week 2
1/13: Isocrates (436-338 BCE) (Against the Sophists; Antidosis), finish discussion of Gorgias
1/15 Plato (c. 428-348 BCE) & Aspasia (c. 470-428 BCE)
Week 3
1/20 Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
1/22 Cicero, Institutes of Oratory; Longinus, On the Sublime
Week 4
1/27 Quintilian
1/29 Unit quiz, introduce synthesis matrix (start brainstorming topics in class)
Unit II—Medieval & Renaissance Rhetoric; Non-Western Traditions
Week 5 Non-western rhetorical traditions
2/3 Egyptian rhetoric
2/5 Chinese rhetoric
Week 6 Medieval rhetoric
2/10 Augustine (354-430 CE), On Christian Doctrine; Introduction to Medieval rhetorical arts Ars Poetriae, Ars Dictaminis, Ars Praedicandi
2/12 Islamic Golden Age: Al-Farabi (c. 870-950) Christine de Pizan (1364-1430 CE), “City of Ladies”
Week 7: Mystics
2/17 Julian of Norwich (1343-after 1416), Margery Kempe (1373-after 1438)
2/19 Sufism and Non-Western Mysticism (Rumi, Hafez, ibn ‘Arabi, Khaldun)
Synthesis matrix (start working on proposal)
Week 8: Renaissance
2/24 Erasmus (1466-1536) & Castiglione
2/26 Proposal
Week 9
3/3 Bacon (1561-1626) & Fell (1614-1704)
3/5 Unit quiz
SPRING BREAK: Mar 9-13
Unit III—The Enlightenment & Modern Rhetoric
Week 10 Enlightenment
3/17 John Locke (1632-1704) & Vico (1668-1774)
3/19 David Hume
Work on paper outline
Week 11 18-9th C.
3/24 George Campbell (1719-1796)
3/26 Hugh Blair (1718-1800) & Alexander Bain (1818-1903)
Week 12
3/31 No class, Festival of Excellence (first 5 pages of paper)
4/2 RT 1162-83 (Intro to modern rhetoric), history of modern composition
Week 13
4/7 Burke, Olbrechts-Tyteca and Perelman
4/9 Unit quiz, Work day
Week 14
4/14 Paper draft and peer review
4/17 contemporary rhetoric issues
Final Paper (due Sunday 4/19)
Final Exam: Thursday, April 23, 9 am