We look at and analyze speakers from the past and present, read old and new theories and practice your own speeching. In this course you acquire insight into the cultural value of rhetoric and its application in society. You develop skills in analyzing, preparing and presenting a speech, whether it is a classic or current political speech, a sermon or a plea, a commemoration or a pep talk, a praise speech or a life lesson. We also practice derivative persuasive practices, such as making an political campaign or a judicial plea.
Teaching is done roughly on three levels. First, you learn to analyze speeches in many areas. Central to this are the rhetorical triangle (ethos, pathos, logos), argumentation versus narrative, the choice of words, images and emotions, as well as the awareness of your cognitive biases. You are also given a lot of opportunity to train yourself in speech. In addition to language and style, we also pay attention to voice, posture and text direction. The attention for these two levels mainly takes place in the first half of the course.
In the second half we explore the third level, namely Meta Rhetoric. Here we look at the areas where persuasion is used, how rhetoric is thought of and what societal considerations underlie it. We will deal with ethics, historical and current rhetoric, the workings of persuasion in different arenas (politics, justice, ceremony) and questions of truth and lies, seduction and coercion. In the second block there is always a practical component present, so that you can continue to learn to speak. We will for instance do a practice court, a current affairs debate and learn to write catchy political statements for the newspaper and on twitter guided by a political strategist. In the second block there will be several guest lecturers who are experts in the different rhetorical arenas.