Journal Entry 6

1. What does Bitzer not mean by “rhetorical situation”? In other words, how does his view differ from past views that readers might compare to his?

Bitzer does not mean:
*"Understanding speech hinges upon understanding the context of meaning in which the speech is located."
*"Merely rhetoric occurs in a setting which involves interaction of speaker, audience, subject; and comminicative purpose."
*"Nor would he equate a rhetorical situation with a persuasive situation, which exists whenever an audience can be changed in belief or action by means of speech."
*He does not mean that "a rhetorical discourse must be embedded in historic context in teh sense that a living tree must be rooted in soil."


2. What does Bitzer mean by “rhetorical situation”?
Bitzer defines a rhetorical situation as, "a complex of persons, events, objects and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence."

3. Explain what “exigence” is. Give your own example of an exigence someone could respond to in writing.

Bitzer defines exigence as, "An imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be." An example of this would be the recent economic downfall and the affected displaced employees. I assume that a number of people would respond in writing to this situation and finds ways to help or give advice to those that lost their jobs!