Rhetoric

"Natural Theology (1802) is the classic statement of the argument for the existence and goodness of God from the world He has created. It begins with the famous analogy of the world, and the various creatures in it, to a watch: clearly the fruit of design and contrivance. Using memorably clear language, Paley took examples especially from medicine, natural history and Newtonian physics to establish how organisms were beautifully adapted for their environment, and how enjoyable life was. Although Paley died two hundred years ago his book is frequently mentioned by modern authors. It is even sometimes supposed that Paley invented the argument from Design to a Designer; and that when Charles Darwin published the Origin of Species in 1859 Paley's book became obsolete. In fact, he was part of a long, successful tradition of British natural theology that stretched from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. But his approach did have critics, within the churches as well as from opponents of organised religion: the book was always controversial.

In this new edition based on the original 1802 text, Matthew D Eddy and David Knight consider what made the book so effective, and tie it to key issues in evolutionary science, theology, and philosophy. It provides a helpful introductory essay that explains the relationship between nature and religion with reference to the social, literary, scientific and theological context of the Enlightenment and Victorian era. It also contains a chronology of Paley’s life, a bibliography of critical studies and over 20,000 words of explanatory notes that identify and unpack key concepts, authors, and publications that Paley used to build his argument.

This edition has now gone through a number of reprintings and will be published in Chinese in 2014."

"Argument de la conférence :

Tout en marquant la spécificité de chacune de ces deux approches quant à l’abord du psychisme humain, le conférencier tentera, entre autres à l’aide d’une analogie simple et d’une méthode originale d’analyse de discours, de montrer ceci :

À l’encontre des positions dogmatiques (assorties de rejet mutuel) émanant des camps retranchés d’inconditionnels partisans, il existe des passerelles et des possibilités de coopération fructueuse entre neurosciences et psychanalyse.

Une condition essentielle pour ce dialogue est que soit redéfini ce qui n’aurait jamais dû cesser de les inspirer : la démarche scientifique, considérée à la fois

- dans ses variantes adaptées aux sciences de la nature et aux sciences humaines,

- dans son souci de démonstration et de réfutation en ce qui concerne aussi bien le cas particulier que la loi générale.


Résumé en quatre pages sur ce site :
http://www.academia.edu/2647167/Psychanalyse_et_Neurosciences_resume_de_la_conference_publique_"

Operating within and for a segment of rhetoric and writing studies researchers and practitioners devoted to student engagement with local publics, this article articulates an approach to fostering student rhetorical engagement through sustained and rhetorically sophisticated advocacy. The article describes the pedagogy’s goals and theoretical framework and analyzes student samples from a course utilizing this pedagogy. The analysis is particularly focused on the ability of students to successfully adapt their advocacy to different, oftentimes competing, audiences. The article also discusses the outcomes of the course—both its failures and successes—in order to facilitate future attempts to foster meaningful student engagement with local publics.

Est-il légitime d’employer la notion moderne d’ « honneur » à propos de la République romaine antique ? Les Romains de cette époque obéissaient-ils à un code de conduite strict ? Sur quoi fondaient-ils le prestige social ? Quelles marques de distinction employaient-ils et à quelles fins ? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions auxquelles cet ouvrage tente de répondre. Pour ce faire, l’auteur analyse trois notions romaines, honos, honestum et honestas, qui recouvrent des objets socio-politiques (marques d’honneur, prestige, charges publiques) et des données morales (dignité de la conduite, bien éthique). Cette diversité est appréhendée dans l’ouvrage par une approche plurielle, relevant de la sémantique, de la sociologie et de l’histoire des idées. L’étude préalable du sens de ces termes dans les textes latins débouche ainsi sur l’examen des pratiques d’hommage et d’honorabilité dans la vie des Romains. Confrontant ensuite la pratique à la théorie, l’ouvrage étudie la manière dont ces trois notions ont été employées comme thèmes littéraires, instruments idéologiques et concepts philosophiques chez les auteurs latins de la République.

Uživatelské rozhraní interaktivních systémů je styčným bodem člověka s informačními a komunikačními technologiemi (ICT). Jako lidský výtvor je součástí kultury, která působí a ovlivňuje nás, často aniž si to plně uvědomujeme. Uživatelské rozhraní usměrňují interakci tak, aby podporovala záměr uživatele. Často ale více podléhá záměru a znalostem zadavatele, designéra nebo toho, co systém umožní a dochází tak k manipulaci. Cílem tohoto článku je proto ukázat, jakým způsobem k tomu dochází, proč je to nevyhnutelné a jak se tomu můžeme bránit. Nejprve se proto podíváme na prvky, které uživatelské rozhraní spoluvytváří, tedy design a kód.

In this paper, I explore the communicative elements within the ontological proof for the existence of God as found in the Proslogion by Anselm of Canterbury.  These particular statements can be easily glossed as purely dialectical “proof” statements.  I dispel this unidirectional impression, and favor an expressive and rhetorical primacy found in Anselm’s mode of communication. To demonstrate this, I spotlight a subtle theory of rhetorical flexibility as explained by Anselm in his De Veritate dialogue. In De Veritate, Anselm explains the role of communicative statements, “correctness”, and the relation to reality in a way that allows the designer of the statements to have agency. This rhetorical theory offers an empowered place for the individual encoder/writer/speaker within the dialectical approach and allows for rhetorical expression.  Applying this theory to the ontological proof, I use the first three chapters of the Proslogion to illustrate the rhetorical nature of Anselm’s statements, the role of Anselm as a designer of these statements, and the meditative, subjective underbelly of the proof itself. Using these perspectives, I locate the ontological proof between the writer and reader on James Kinneavy’s rhetorical triangle (A Theory of Discourse): the farthest possible point from a referential scientific discursive aim.  This placement of the proof emphasizes Anselm’s spiritual introspection as well as the writer/reader relationship within the ontological proof, rather than the logistical depiction of reality. Consequently, by interpreting Anselm in this manner, I highlight the importance of author, subjectivity, and rhetoric within a dialectic based Scholastic tradition.