1. Kairos and the Rhetorical Construction of Knowledge

2. Key definition of rhetoric

• Art of discovering all the available means

• of persuasion in a given situation

• Aristotle

3. Rhetoric and Empirical Truth

• Many important questions cant be settled with reference to facts alone.

• Persuasive argument can help us arrive at probable truth where no clear consensus on the facts exists.

• The language we use to name the world influences how we understand it.

4. Discourse Communities

• Groups of people who differ in

• --the vocabulary they use to describe the world

• --the linguistic style and genres they prefer

• --the kinds of evidence they value

• --the questions / issues they find relevant

5. Ideological Commonplaces

• A set of often unstated assumptions and beliefs that influences how we understand and behave in the world.

6. Kairos as Inventional Heuristic

• Key questions to help rhetors adapt

• arguments to particular times, places, and

• audiences.

7. Kairos and Urgency

• How have recent events made this issue

• urgent right now?

• Or, do I need to show its urgency to make it relevant to the present?

8. Analyzing Interested Communities

• What arguments are being made by what groups / communities about this issue at this time?

• What interests or ideological agendas are being served by these arguments?

9. Power and Media Gatekeepers

• How do particular media outlets both highlight

• and overlook the arguments of certain

• groups (reinforcing an ideological point of view)?

• Who has the most / least power to make their voices heard about this issue? Why?

• How can a relatively powerless person gain an audience in this time?

10. Interconnections

• What other issues are bound up with discourse about this issue right now? Why?

• Should I connect more argument to these related issues or attempt to separate it?

11. Analyzing Audiences

• What values or assumptions does the audience hold about the world?

• What motivates them? What are there interests in this issue?

• What kinds of evidence and language does the audience value?