COMP 2000 – Journal Entry 6

 

Answer the following questions about the rhetoric article, “The Rhetorical Situation,” by Lloyd Bitzer.

 

1.     What does Bitzer not mean by “rhetorical situation”? In other words, how does his view differ from past views that readers might compare to his?

Blitzer is not referring to the traditional view of rhetoric. In the traditional sense, rhetoricians have asked the types of questions that trigger theories of rhetoric focus upon the orator’s method or upon the discourse itself, rather than upon the situation which invites the orator’s application of his method and the creation of discourse.

 

2.     What does Bitzer mean by “rhetorical situation”?

Blitzer states that the “rhetorical situation” is the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse. It is a complex of persons, events, objects and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence that can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced to the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence. He suggests that “rhetorical situation” should be considered the very ground of rhetorical activity.

 

3.     Explain what “exigence” is. Give your own example of an exigence someone could respond to in writing.

An exigence is any imperfection marked by urgency. It can be rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse. The commercial slaughter of porpoises in Japan is a rhetorical exigence.