Lloyd+Bitzer+The+Rhetorical+Situation

Bitzer, Lloyd. "The Rhetorical Situation." //Philosophy and Rhetoric// 1 (1968): 1-14. =Summary= Theory needs to go beyond thinking of rhetoric as craft and begin taking responsibility for producing a principled, conceptually driven understanding of the kind of situation that gives rise to the practical activity of rhetoric. Theory needs to come to grips with the fact that asking after an understanding of rhetorical situation is anything but an idle activity. Indeed, to contemplate the problem of rhetorical discourse is to come full bore upon that which has been ignored by rhetorical theorists: the problem the rhetorical situation. Engagement with the problem of rhetorical situation allows, in other words, for the development of a partial theory of rhetorical situation – one that starts out by defining the rhetorical situation itself, follows by amplifying this teasing out the constituent parts of the rhetorical situation, and concludes providing a synthetic understanding of the whole and its parts – that is, the rhetorical situation and those things that constitute the rhetorical situation. As such, theory may identify that knowledge of the rhetorical situation is foundational because situation control the quality of rhetoric because it is situation that elicits that which may never actually appear and change the fabric of reality: the a practical, task-oriented activity we call //rhetoric//that uses discourse to engage audiences and, in so doing, to turn them into agents involved in the act of change the reality of the world. To know that rhetorical situation is itself the foundation upon which rises the craft of rhetoric, theory may amplify our understanding of rhetorical situation by pointing out that each rhetorical situation is itself constituted by at least one pressing, urgent, or crisis-filled, thus, imperfect situation that not only calls for immediate action (i.e., exigence) but that interacts with an audience that can identify with and act upon a rhetorical discourse but only within the limits established by the situation-specific, historically elaborated set of constraints. When theory helps us to see that the rhetor and the rhetor's artistic and inartistic proofs arise in response to situation, we can see that rhetorical situations – whether they ripen and then decay or persist – elicit a real, discernible invitation to produce and respond to that which is predictable: a discourse that fits with and within the variously complex, organized constraints of the historically-given, rhetorical situation. If approach situation as the crucible that gives rise to rhetoric, then a discipline may arise that is itself justified because those involved in the pursuit of knowledge may make available principles and concepts and, not covered here, procedures that support people who want to work at crafting the reality altering discourse we call rhetoric. =Stage Summaries= To acknowledge the existence of "rhetorical discourse" is itself an act which indicates the presence of a"rhetorical situation." To sense or know about the existence of a rhetorical situation should set our minds to work, working to be able to answer the question, "What is the rhetorical situation." But, just the same, major theorists of rhetoric have either ignored the question or put the problem in context of other problems, such as "what is the nature of rhetorical discourse" (2).
 * Why is asking after an understanding of the rhetorical situation** //**not**// **an idle question?**

Bitzer's purpose in writing this essay is to advance a partial theory of the rhetorical situation.
 * Purpose of the essay**

First-order understanding of the phrase "rhetoric is situational" includes the following: rhetorical situation so controls the quality of rhetoric – a practical, task-oriented activity that uses discourse to engage audiences and, in so doing, to turn them into agents involved in the act of change the reality of the world – that theory needs to regard it as rhetoric's very foundation, or that which calls forth a reality-changing discourse fitting of the situation that has rhetorical significance but the may, just the same, appear and disappear without giving rise to rhetorical discourse.
 * Definition of "Rhetorical Situation"**

Theory amplifies "rhetoric is situational" by pointing out that that which is foundational – rhetorical situation – is itself constituted by at least one pressing, urgent, or crisis-filled, thus, imperfect situation that not only calls for immediate action (i.e., //exigence//) but that interacts with an audience can identify with and act upon a discourse that calls for change but that can only do so within the limits established by a situation-specific. historically elaborated set of constraints, and, of course, the rhetor and the rhetor's artistic and inartistic proofs.
 * Amplification of** //**rhetorical situation**//

Rhetorical situations, like others, ripen and then either decay or persist, but whichever why the situation develops, it elicits a real, discernible invitation to produce and respond to that which is predictable: a discourse that fits with and within the constraints of the given situation, be it "simple or complex," "more or less organized" (9).
 * summary of** //**rhetorical situation**//

Shaped as it is by the presence of //real world//, change-eliciting rhetorical exigences, theory is required to think of rhetoric as something more than craft – namely, a discipline that advance the p purposes of those which work at crafting their rhetorics precisely because those involved in this "philosophically justified activity" make available to understanding those "principles, concepts, and procedures by which we effect valuable changes in reality" (14).
 * Disciplinary justification**

Theory needs to go beyond thinking of rhetoric as craft and begin taking responsibility for producing a principled, conceptually driven understanding of the kind of situation that gives rise to the practical activity of rhetoric. =Raw Notes= Bitzer breaks his discussion of "The Rhetorical Situation" into 6 sections.
 * Thesis**

1. Justification of the question: What is a rhetorical situation? > "obviously" "rhetorical discourse" "indicates the presence of a rhetorical situation" > "despite the presence of rhetorical situation, major theorists ignore or embed inquiry into rhetorical situation into discussions of other problems in the study of rhetoric, like "what is the nature of rhetorical discourse" (2). 2. Statement of the thesis 3. Definition of the meaning of the concept "rhetoric is situational" > seeks to clarify this by forwarding a "commonplace": "a work of rhetoric is pragmatic; it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions | ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task" (4) > Because this is so, "rhetoric is a mode of altering reality" – a "mode of action and not an instrument of reflection" – "by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action," or the production of "discourse of such a character that the audience, in thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes mediator of change" (4) > As such, "rhetorical situation" is "a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance," which "participates naturally in the situation" by responding "to the demands imposed by this situation" as "clearly" as "physical responses" to situation (5) > The understanding that follows is that "so controlling is situation that we should consider it the very ground of rhetorical activity," or that which, as "necessary condition of rhetorical discourse" creates conditions for rhetorical discourse and confers "//rhetorical// significance" upon "the situation" that is "rhetorical" precisely because it "invites" a "fitting response to a situation which needs and invites" discourse capable of participating with situation and thereby altering its reality" yet may, nonetheless, "mature and decay without giving birth to rhetorical utterance" (5, 6) 4. Amplifies our understanding of "rhetoric is situational" by defining the constituent parts of the rhetorical situation > Basically, one would say that "everything relevent in a rhetorical situation" (8) is constituted by // > an audience, or "body of hearers or readers. . . who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change" (8) > "a set of constraints not only made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the experience," including "beliefs, attitudes, documents, facts, traditions, images, interests, motives and the like" but divisible into constraints "originated or managed by the rhetor and his method" (artistic proofs) and those which "may be operative" (inartistic proofs) (8) > the rhetor (8 – artistic and inartisitic proofs should have been moved from constraints to agent / act) > the rhetor's discourse (8) 5. Summarizing the general characteristics of the rhetorical situation and its constituents 6. Justifies the discipline of rhetoric by describing what those in the discipline should do.
 * question: "what is a rhetorical situation?" and that "the question" "is not an idle one" (1, 2)
 * Makes clear that his purpose in writing is to put forward a "part of a theory of situation" (3)
 * Assumption: clear that "rhetoric is situational" (3)
 * Even before their can be rhetorical discourse there must be three (actually five) "constituents" of "rhetorical situation: //exigence//, //audience//, //constraints//, and, thereafter, //speaker// and //speech
 * "at least one controlling exigence" (7), or an "imperfection marked by an urgency" that | "is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse" (6-7)
 * Rhetorical discourse is" thus" "called into existence by situation," which may "either mature or [sic] decay or mature and persist" (12), which is "simple or complex, and more or less organized" (11), which "is objective, publicly observable, and historic," not "fictive," meaning "that is is real of genuine" (11) and which amounts to an "invitation to create and present discourse" (9), an invitation that "somehow [prescribes] the response which fits" and so invites the speaker to present "a //fitting response// (10) – an invitation that can be so clear that "one can predict that such discourse will be uttered" (9)
 * We live in "our real world" in which "rhetorical exigences abound" and change is invited by "the world" (13)
 * For those who think of rhetoric as craft designed to produce persuasion, they may also think of it as a discipline, or philosophically justified activity, because the rhetorician "provides principles, concepts, and procedures by which we effect valuable changes in reality" (14).