burtonwood

A Short Course in Rhetoric
Six seminars touring sites and sounds of contemporary rhetoric and discussing whether the messages we're receiving are effective or just affected.

Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, speaking or writing that is designed to be impressive. Rhetorical language is often artificial and extravagant.

Rhetorical Questions
Think of political rhetoric, religious rhetoric or legal rhetoric, are you feeling suspicious? We talk of getting behind or underneath the rhetoric as though rhetoric is something that obscures the truth. In Plato's 'Phaedrus' Socrates says that a speaker ought to recognise the Truth -note the capital- whether their purpose is to obscure or reveal it. Plato describes rhetoric as 'the art of winning the soul by discourse, it is the art of seduction. In a world where truth has lost it's capital and is relative rather than absolute, who do you trust your soul to?

Excursions
A Short Course in Rhetoric consists of afternoon and evening seminars. During the course we will be in conversation with speakers dealing in the rhetoric of religion, politics, tourism, hypertext, urban spaces and healthcare. The seminars will take the form of excursions along highways, byways and waterways.

Students
The course is aimed at people who are interested in learning about the art of rhetoric through group discussion, and who don't mind blurring the line between teacher and pupil. By enrolling on the course you will be signing up to six excursions in and around Liverpool. The excursions depart from STATIC on Tuesday evenings at 6pm and Saturday afternoons at 3pm during May 2004. You are encouraged to attend as many sessions as you are able. During the third week of May there will be an online seminar - a chance for anyone who can access the site to join the course - the topic for discussion is the 'Rhetoric of Hypertext'.

Fees
The course fee is £20 full, £10 concession and includes all travel from STATIC. There may be the opportunity to join the course for individual excursions please contact rhetoric@postmaster.co.uk for details.

Course guide
This is the online course guide for A Short Course in Rhetoric. The following pages provide background information on each excursion along with information on the invited speakers who will be in conversation with students on the course. A page is dedicated to each excursion. Links on these pages take students on a tour of sites outside of the STATIC domain. The information relating to each event will be published online seven days in advance of the advertised excursion.

Enrolled students will receive a copy of Plato's 'Phaedrus', the suggested reading for the course.

Disclaimer
Images and text in the following pages are extracted from sites outside of the Static domain, please note that the views expressed within these pages are not necessarily those of Static or of the author of the course.