Whether or not you’re studying classical rhetoric, chances are you’ve heard of Aristotle. He’s famous for philosophy, mathematics, psychology, physics, and politics, and also being the teacher of Alexander the Great. He’s also, for lack of a better term, the king of logic! See, unlike his famous teacher Plato, Aristotle…

When you think about the “classic” rhetoricians and philosophers of Ancient Greece, you probably think of the big names: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Maybe, if you do a little more research, you’ll find Gorgias and Isocrates. But all of these people are men — where are the women? In recent…

As an undergraduate student studying Strategic Communications and English with an emphasis in Writing & Rhetoric, I come across the word “rhetoric” a lot. Like, a lot. But the funny thing is that when I first declared those majors, I had no idea what the word “rhetoric” meant. And even…

Food for thought: When a speaker convinces an audience to do something bad, who is at fault? In U.S. courts, the subject often receives a lot of debate. A few years ago, a woman was sentenced to jail for telling her boyfriend to kill himself, even though she had no…

ENGL 4110 “Commonplace Book” Entry 11 As an English major in college, I take a lot of English and literature classes (big surprise there). Sometimes, they can be a little boring. Other times, they can be difficult and confusing. But sometimes, they can be absolutely fascinating. Such was the case…

ENGL 4110 “Commonplace Book” Entry 10 According to a quick Google search, there is at least one trained physician onboard 11 out of every 12 flights. That’s good news for any medical emergencies on your next flight, I guess. …

ENGL 4110 “Commonplace Book” Entry 9 Speculative fiction and science fiction have always been heavily intertwined with the idea of “artificial intelligence.” Robots, virtual assistants, or androids, their intelligence is not just intelligence — the “artificial” bit insinuates that this type of ability is less-than due to its manmade status. …

ENGL 4110 “Commonplace Book” Entry 8 When I was nine years old, my family went to the movie theater and saw Astro Boy, a film adaptation of a manga wherein a robot is created to replace a scientist’s dead son, leading to a whole host of further complications. I was…

ENGL 4110 “Commonplace Book” Entry 7 Oryx and Crake is one of Margaret Atwood’s lesser-known works, but it tells a haunting tale — what if the world really were to end? The story opens in Snowman’s present-tense narrative, where the reader learns that Snowman is supposedly the last of his…