Analysis of how the material environment of architecture, clothes, furniture, music, signage, tools, toys, and other objects operates as a field of persuasive appeals and how it influences and constrains the formation of identity and community. Emphasis is on learning how to read public speech, identifying basic patterns in American political discourse as well as specific persuasive strategies, and forming reasoned judgments about eloquence. Hermeneutical theory is traced through its incarnations in ancient, medieval and modern philosophy to its present central position in continental thought where everything human beings understand and do is seen as a function of interpretation. Students work on problems in Biblical interpretation and the analysis of canonical texts, with particular attention to the questions of narration and audience. Introduction to systems of rhetorical criticism and their application to various genres of public discourse.
Students collaborate in writing, editing, producing, and judging a journal of critical essays.
Advanced training in the design and presentation of persuasive speeches for diverse civic audiences. Students conduct a public forum on a issue of current interest for the university community. Courses in selected areas of interest that are not offered periodically. Typically offered in the fall of election years. A discussion of how American values of equality and individual liberty are realized in the ordinary, everyday activities of American life and how they can have paradoxical consequences.