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Rhetoric: Importance to Liberal Arts

Ross Richendrfer and Matt Schissler were Rhetoric Honors majors. Ross wrote his thesis on the use of Foucault’s confessional in The Catcher and the Rye. Matt wrote his thesis on contemporary offensive humor such as Sarah Silverman, South Park, and Carlos Mencia. Together, the two worked on a Perry Scholarship with Jim Hanson examining the First Amendment and Fighting Words, words that provoke violence, threaten, harass, and inflict injury that led to the publication of an article in the journal Free Speech Yearbook.

Whitman's Rhetoric Studies department is an essential part of the liberal arts mission of the College. Our Mission Statement suggests that liberal education seeks to help "students develop capacities to analyze, interpret, criticize, communicate, and engage" (Whitman College Catalog, p. 4). Important, if not central, to these capacities is the ability of our students to analyze the messages with which they come into contact every day and to respond with effective, clear and thoughtful communication. The study of rhetoric, nearly continuous over 2500 years, has always been central to the objectives of a liberal arts curriculum; indeed, it is one of the founding 7 aspects of liberal arts. Extending that study to contemporary media, protests, e-mail, and all forms of discourse has advanced our study into the 21st century. The philosophies of both the College and the Rhetoric Studies Department’s objectives are quite consistent. The use of communication in speech, writing, and media is a unique characteristic of humans as symbol using beings. Rhetoric is the dynamic by which all of the important institutions of our society operate; public address is used to debate public policy and to resolve problems we face every day; and it is through communication that humans come to know and understand their world. In short, we seek to offer students a deep understanding of a central aspect of the entire liberal arts curriculum: the use of communication in speech, writing, and all forms of rhetoric. Goals for your study in Rhetoric

Questions should be directed to Jim Hanson at hansonjb@whitman.edu