Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: A History

by Craig R. Smith

For two decades, students and instructors have relied on award-winning author Craig Smith’s detailed description and analysis of rhetorical theories and the historical contexts for major thinkers who advanced them. He employs key themes from important philosophical schools in this well-researched chronicle of rhetoric and human consciousness. One is that rhetoric is a response to uncertainty. The modern philosophers, like the naturalists of ancient Greece and the Scholastics who preceded them, tried to end uncertainty by combining the discoveries of science and psychology with rationalism. Their aim was progress and a consensus among experts as to what truth is. However, where modernism proved ineffective, rhetoric was revived to fill the breach. Another significant theme is that different conceptions of human consciousness lead to different theories of rhetoric, and for every major school of thought, another school of thought forms in reaction. Classic and contemporary examples demonstrate the usefulness of rhetorical theory, especially its ability to inform and guide. By providing probes for rhetorical criticism, discussions also demonstrate that rhetorical criticism illustrates, verifies, and refines rhetorical theory. Thus, the synergistic relationship between theory and criticism in rhetoric is no different than in other arts: Theory informs practice; analysis of successful practice refines theory. Smith’s absorbing study has been expanded to include thorough treatments of rhetoric in the Romantic Era, feminist and queer theory, and historical context for the creation of rhetorical theory and its use in public address.

Genres: Nonfiction

499 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Craig R. Smith is the director emeritus of the Center for First Amendment Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he taught for twenty-seven years. He has served as a political speechwriter for President Gerald Ford, campaign manager for Senator Bob Packwood, and as a consultant to George Bush's presidential campaign.

In 2010 he received the Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award from the National Communication Association for his contributions to rhetorical theory.

Reviews

[Kristi Siegel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ta da! I'm not teaching this course any more, so I'll never have to use this crushingly boring text again. ...And it's not as though I didn't try to find something more interesting. However, texts that provide an overview of rhetorical theory are difficult to find. Here, what Smith accomplishes in breadth he undoes in depth. Too often, particularly with theorists who warrant more explanation, Smith's commentary is scant (two pages on Derrida, two or three pages on Foucault, perhaps one or two pages on Baudrillard, etc.) and he often drops in critical terms without providing any context or definition. I was honest. I told my students this was an unfortunate text, but the best - after looking at dozens - that I could find.

However, Smith's students fare worse. I saw his online syllabus, and the course must be hell on wheels. Every day featured quizzes, exercises, and other busy work. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. We use and are assaulted by rhetoric every day. There should be fascinating books on rhetorical theory. Where in the hell are they?

As a further insult, there was a new edition in 2009, and the old edition was unavailable. The only changes were the addition of a few contemporary names - Obama here, Palin there. Otherwise, it was the same dull text, squashed into an edition 60 pages shorter with a microscopic font.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably a good reference book for those interested in the history of Western rhetorical theory, but I read it for a class I abhorred, so my remembrance of its contents is colored by my hatred.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smith makes Rhetoric fun, not that it wasn't always fun. But he makes it less intimidating. I had a class to supplement to the material to make it easier to understand, and I don't normally add textbooks to my 'read' list, but this is a textbook that I kept, and plan to keep for a long time, and not only because I'd only get $.60 for selling it back. Rhetoric combines psychology, history, English, and philosophy all into one, and Smith does a great job of portraying that. The only thing he didn't do, which I get because otherwise it would make it several thousand pages long and no one would ever read it, was go into detail about the rhetoricians, their work, and really describing their contributions. Most of the rhetoricians had one paragraph to a few pages. That being said, it's an excellent introduction into the world of rhetoric.

**special note about edition, the picture that I'm commenting on does NOT match my edition. I have the brown edition (whatever that one is, and I'm too lazy to check) so if there are differences between what I said and the edition here, sorry.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring textbook.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay. Somewhat dry and boring. Some thinkers were given shorter treatments than I would have liked.