Layers and small-talk: A playlist exercise

CFP: Classical rhetoric & contemporary law

Posted onAugust 9, 2018September 10, 2018AuthorBrian LarsonLeave a comment

Express your interest in collaborating on scholarship exploring the intersections of classical rhetoric and contemporary law DEADLINE EXTENDED: Preliminary proposals due September 14, 2018 October 5, 2018 (AoE) Classical Rhetoric & Contemporary Law, a national group of scholars in the legal academy broadly interested in rhetorical theory and particularly in classical rhetorical texts, has been meeting virtually for more than a year discussing such texts and their intersections with contemporary legal practices and education. The list of texts the group has discussed so far appears below. The group has presented portions of its work at 2018 conferences of the Rhetoric Read More …

Law and rhetoric at Rhetoric Society of America 2018

Posted onApril 26, 2018September 3, 2018AuthorBrian Larson2 Comments

Updated 5/25 to correct a couple entries based on the final schedule published this week; 4/30 to put in link to my session’s abstract; and 4/27 to add Maggie Franz’s session. The 2018 installment of Rhetoric Society of America’s biennial conference also marks the society’s 50th anniversary. Held in Minneapolis (which is beautiful this time of year), the conference is a sprawling four-day event that tackles rhetoric in written and spoken contexts and across the human (and even trans- and post-human) experience. Of special interest to folks here, though, might be the sessions devoted to or connected with law. Here Read More …

Classical rhetoric: The anonymous Dissoi Logoi and Antiphon’s Tetralogies

Posted onJuly 6, 2017AuthorBrian LarsonLeave a comment

This summer, the Classical Rhetoric & Contemporary Law group has begun discussing classical texts relating to rhetoric and argumentation from the perspective of contemporary law. To support that effort, I began a series of background pieces (starting with this post on June 14) to function as a roadmap to classical rhetoric for members of the group and for others interested in classical forensic rhetoric and its intersections with contemporary practice and pedagogy. See that first post for objectives and ground rules of these background posts. The last post focused on some terminology issues and some history of rhetoric before and Read More …

Early history of classical rhetoric

Posted onJune 15, 2017AuthorBrian Larson1 Comment

On June 14, the Classical Rhetoric & Contemporary Law group discussed Gorgias’s Encomium of Helen from the perspective of contemporary law, but many of us were new to the text, and so we spent a considerable amount of time just getting familiar with it. We may report later as a group on our discussions and efforts. But first I want to provide background pieces to function as a roadmap to classical rhetoric, Gorgias, this text, and other classical texts for members of the group and for others interested in classical forensic rhetoric and its intersections with contemporary practice and pedagogy. Read More …

Hahn: The Stactive Style

Posted onOctober 3, 2016September 3, 2018AuthorBrian LarsonLeave a comment

I enjoyed getting to know Dr. Ed Hahn during our time in Minnesota’s PhD program in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication. He always struck me as a very smart and thoughtful guy. In the most recent issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly, he demonstrated that amply with this essay: Hahn, E. (2016). The Stactive Style: Whiteness and the Rhetoric of History. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 46(4), 331–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/02773945.2016.1190461 In it, Hahn identifies a stylistic symptom of a challenge that justice-oriented scholars with commitments in postmodern philosophy must face. On the one hand, they need to document historical instances of injustice, for example by Read More …