I have been critiquing the postmodern mode of argumentation, but I have said nothing about the content or purposes of the arguments themselves. Lest I seem ungenerous in my reading of an entire field of work, I hasten to add that the postmodern styles of argumentation can and do serve an important purpose. At their … Continue reading
In many cases, tracing the genealogy of an argument (the social, historical, and material forces that attended its formulation) doesn’t tell you whether the argument itself is right or wrong. What’s more, tracing genealogies only through the lens of ideological critique—Marxist, race, queer, feminist—will illuminate only one aspect of the complexity of an idea’s material, … Continue reading
Two posts ago, I opposed “critical thinking” to “civic engagement” insofar as their rhetorical trajectories are aimed in different directions: the former suggests thought, the latter suggests action. I came down reluctantly on the side of “critical thinking” as the god-term upon which arguments for humanistic education should be made. However, my description of the … Continue reading
Criticizing Emig’s study would be easier than putting socks on the right feet; after all, her sample is miniscule, the time spent with her subjects is inadequate, and the design of the study itself is highly artificial. What’s more, there seems to be a certain hubris to Emig’s Introduction and Conclusion. Despite a problematic research … Continue reading
Ever since I decided to join this crazy world of academia, I’ve noticed that professors, deans, and administrators alike proclaim the value of education using one of two terms: “critical thinking” or “civic engagement.” These terms are emblematic of what Richard Weaver calls “ultimate terms” and what Kenneth Burke calls “god terms.” They are terms … Continue reading
An interesting thing about books: you always know when they’re going to end. You can’t say the same about movies or songs. Unless you’re fastidious enough to check the running times before watching or listening, the end of a movie or a song does not present itself before the fact, the way a book’s does. … Continue reading
The field in which I work is known as “rhetoric and composition” or “composition and rhetoric”, depending on whom you ask. However, if you ask me, rhetoric is the more important of the two. Traditionally, rhetoric was concerned with spoken discourse, but even in the Hellenistic era, its application to written discourse was obvious. (Plato’s … Continue reading
There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed . . . I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire … Continue reading
Escuchar música y ver television es buen para aprender Español. Por eso veo peliculas españolas sin los subtítulos. Ahora, necesito encontrar musica española que me gusta. Hay muchos géneros de musica española: ranchera, mariachi, cumbia, norteño, banda, salsa . . . y tambien rock, alternative, y pop. En California, escuché mucha musica en Español en … Continue reading
