Rhetoric Workbook: Trivium Studies II

The class of which this workbook is a component begins by considering the corollary to formal-deductive logic, material-inductive logic. That is, rather than looking at the structures or forms that allow us to reason validly, we consider the ways in which the mind acquires the “stuff” or matter of experience, the specific and observational judgments we form, and the principles and universal concepts that are understood. We study the schemas for categorizing things (Aristotle’s “categories”), as well as the ways of expressing predication and concepts. Aristotle tells us that logic and rhetoric are closely connected, though different. Logic is ordered to scientific demonstration while rhetoric to persuasion. Quintilian broadens the scope of rhetoric to include all instances of speaking well, and we follow him in this. We delve into rhetoric by drawing upon Aristotle's Rhetoric and other Greek and Roman works. We explore the three modes of persuasion, the five canons of rhetoric, the steps for apprehending the rhetorical situation, and other elements of the classical approach to composition. Rather than a "public speaking" course, the class is a continuation of the exploration of what language and thought are that was begun in logic. It examines the other modes of communication that complement the logos (pathos and ethos); it introduces us to themes that will find their full explication both in Nature, Man, & Science—wherein we look at how the various tools of science covered in the trivium are applied to the fields of human knowing—and in Human Nature & Ethics as it considers the ethical and humane conditions that one must bear in mind when wielding the profound and dangerous thing that is language. In addition, the class offers a defense of rhetoric reliant upon truth, reason, and beauty and lays out a practical imitative approach to composition, using the five canons. To make proper use of this workbook, you must utilize it in accompaniment with the digital course materials for Advanced Logic & Rhetoric available through the Oxrose Academy or the Tradtio Nostra Self-Paced coursesavailable at Oxrose Press.