Bitzer, The Rhetorical Situation
Key Ideas: Rhetorical situation takes into account context for rhetorical discourse; Consists of exigence, audience, and constraints; Rhetoric as a means of altering reality through the mediation of thought and action.
Bitzer moves toward a theory of the rhetorical situation, which consists of the exigence, audience, and constraints. The rhetorical situation extends traditional rhetorical models in order to include the context(s) in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse. For Bitzer, the rhetorical situation calls rhetorical discourse or utterances into being as a means of prompting action or initiating change. Therefore, the rhetorical situation is foundational to rhetorical activity.
Rhetoric is situational--embedded in its historical and social contexts. Bitzer further defines rhetoric as situational, providing seven related claims: 1) rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to a situation 2) a speech is given rhetorical significance by the situation; 3) a rhetorical situation must exist as a necessary condition of rhetorical discourse 4) rhetorical situations may mature and decay without rhetorical utterance; 5) a situation is rhetorical insofar as it needs and invited discourse capable of participating in and changing the situation; 6) discourse is rhetorical insofar as it functions as a fitting response to the situation; 7) the situation controls the response and the problem controls the solution.
Rhetoric is also pragmatic in the sense that it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions to produce action or change in the world. In short, rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action. The rhetor alters reality by bringing into existence a discourse of such a character that the audience, in thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes the mediator of change. In this sense rhetoric is always persuasive.
Constituents of the Rhetorical Situation
Bitzer moves toward a theory of the rhetorical situation, which consists of the exigence, audience, and constraints. The rhetorical situation extends traditional rhetorical models in order to include the context(s) in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse. For Bitzer, the rhetorical situation calls rhetorical discourse or utterances into being as a means of prompting action or initiating change. Therefore, the rhetorical situation is foundational to rhetorical activity.
Rhetoric is situational--embedded in its historical and social contexts. Bitzer further defines rhetoric as situational, providing seven related claims: 1) rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to a situation 2) a speech is given rhetorical significance by the situation; 3) a rhetorical situation must exist as a necessary condition of rhetorical discourse 4) rhetorical situations may mature and decay without rhetorical utterance; 5) a situation is rhetorical insofar as it needs and invited discourse capable of participating in and changing the situation; 6) discourse is rhetorical insofar as it functions as a fitting response to the situation; 7) the situation controls the response and the problem controls the solution.
Rhetoric is also pragmatic in the sense that it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions to produce action or change in the world. In short, rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action. The rhetor alters reality by bringing into existence a discourse of such a character that the audience, in thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes the mediator of change. In this sense rhetoric is always persuasive.
Constituents of the Rhetorical Situation
- Exigence: imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be.
- Audience: those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and being mediators of change
- Constraints: persons, events, objects, and relations which are part of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence
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