Disclaimer: due to the coronavirus pandemic, this course description might be subject to changes.
Topics: Argumentation, Fallacies, Rhetorical strategies
Disciplines: Argumentation theory, (Informal) logic, Persuasion, Rhetoric
Skills: Skills that we will develop:
Argumentative and rhetorical analysis
Critical thinking
Public speaking
Speech writing
Admission requirements:
This course is an (extracurricular) Honours Class: an elective course within the Honours College programme. Third year students who don’t participate in the Honours College, have the opportunity to apply for a Bachelor Honours Class. Students will be selected based on i.a. their motivation and average grade.
Description:
How do you get persuaded? Are you capable of distinguishing between good and bad arguments? Do you recognize rhetorical tricks? In this course we will teach you how to resist verbal manipulation. Starting with analysing argumentative discourse, you will learn how to find the implicit elements of an argument, to make a schematic overview of the different arguments in a line of reasoning, and how to recognize fallacies. After that, we will focus on two classical rhetorical practices: politics and law. You will learn that speakers often do not only use argumentation for persuading their audience, but also ethos and pathos, as well as means of style and presentation. If you are capable of seeing through these means, you are capable of passing a well-considered judgment of the tenability of an opinion.
Course objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
have gained knowledge of basic argumentative concepts
have gained knowledge of basic rhetorical concepts
be able to identify and analyse the argumentative and rhetorical aspects of a text
be able to provide a basic assessment of the use of these aspects
be able to compose and deliver a persuasive speech
Programme and timetable:
Thursdays from 17.30 till 19.30 hrs.
Week 1 (4 February 2021): Principles of rhetoric and argumentation
Week 2 (11 February 2021): Standpoints and arguments
Week 3 (18 February 2021): Main line of arguments
Week 4 (25 February 2021): Speech arrangement (guest lecture by speech writer)
Week 5 (4 March 2021): Speeches
Week 6 (11 March 2021): Ethos & pathos
Week 7 (18 March 2021): Fallacies (guest lecture by researcher)
Week 8 (25 March 2021): Final exam or paper
Location:
Online, except for week 5: this session will be on campus if possible.
Reading list:
Crowley, Sharon & Debra Hawhee (2012). Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 5th edition. Boston [etc.]: Pearson.
Eemeren, Frans van, Rob Grootendorst & Francisca Snoeck Henkemans (2010). Argumentation. Analysis, Evaluation, Presentation. New York [etc.]: Routledge.
Course load and teaching method:
This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours.
Seminars: 8 lectures of 2 hours (16 hours) (participation is mandatory)
Literature reading: 9,25 hours per week (78 hours)
Assignments: 5 assignments of 1,5 hours (7,5 hours)
Speech: 20 hours
Exam: 20 hours
Assessment methods:
20% Weekly assignments
40% Oral speech + written reflection
40% Final exam or paper
It is not required to successfully complete all partial exams in order to pass this course. Students are allowed to compensate a ‘fail’ (grades up to and including 5.0).
Brightspace and uSis:
Brightspace will be used in this course. Students can register for the Brightspace module one week prior to the start of the course.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Bachelor Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.
Registration process:
UPDATE 29-10
Registration will be possible from Monday 9 November 2020 up to and including Thursday 19 November 2020.
The registration link will be posted on the student website of the Honours Academy.
Contact:
Francisca Jungslager
Department of Dutch Discourse Studies, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
f.s.jungslager@hum.leidenuniv.nl