Modern and Post-Modern Rhetoric intro

 `In RT the introduction to Modern and Post-Modern Rhetoric covers the twentieth century and the decline of rhetoric as an academic discipline. However rhetoric was also revived in the form of discourse which involves acceptance of language as a social behavior. One of the ways this change affected learning institutions was the change in focus from literature rhetoric to speech. The use of oral rhetoric to gain recognition and to have your voice heard became the focus. The chapter also covers the use of philosophy in order to understand rhetoric. I feel like this use is especially apparent in arguments that use the reasoning, “If a is b and b is c then a is c.”. One type of philosophy that has a strong influence on rhetoric is semantics. If using semantics you have to analyze the mental behavior of the audience to realize whether they will take something you say in the way it is meant or not. If a rhetor chose to make a sarcastic comment or a joke to the wrong sort of audience it could cause he/she to lose support from that group of people. One of the biggest differences between early rhetoric and this new twentieth century form is that the old form is considered mainly a use of persuasion, whereas in the new form rhetoric is a foundation of knowledge that persuades on its own.