George A. Kennedy asserts in his article, “A Hoot in the Dark: The Evolution of General Rhetoric,” that rhetoric is basically a form of energy. In order for this claim to remain true, he discusses eight different thesis to support his argument.
The first thesis is that rhetoric is prior to speech. This means that the originator of the communication has to experience an exigence. An exigence is the need to speak out about a certain issue. If there is no need to speak out, then no speech will occur.
The second thesis is that the receiver’s interpretation of a communication is prior to the speaker’s intent in determining the meaning. The meaning is what the receiver does as a result of receiving the message. Therefore, if the receiver does nothing, then the message has no meaning. This was a bit odd to me because humans ignore one another all of the time or do not respond to some means of communication. Nevertheless, the content of that communication can have a great impact upon our life.
The third thesis is that rhetoric is prior to intentionality or to any belief on the part of a speaker about the meaning of a sign or its effect on others. This means that rhetoric has already occurred before we think about how to use it or how others will receive it. This was illustrated by humans living episodic lives.
The fourth and fifth theses are that the function of rhetoric is the survival of the fittest and that the rhetorical code evolves by selective variation. This was illustrated by animals using rhetoric to warn other members in their group of danger and using rhetoric to woo members of the opposite sex. This intrigued me because in all of my rhetoric classes, I’ve never stopped to consider the mating call of a bird to be rhetoric, but I guess it is. This type of rhetoric ensures that the genetic traits of that male bird will be reproduced.
The sixth thesis is that among the traditional parts of rhetoric (invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery) delivery is prior to the others. This refers to the biological responses or actions that may occur which can be a gesture, facial expression, or etc. The example is used of a rattlesnake coiling up and shaking its rattle when it feels threatened though the rattlesnake itself is deaf.
The seventh thesis is that writing is prior to speech but not prior to rhetoric. I have to disagree with this thesis. Many humans enact verbal rhetoric on a daily basis without ever writing a word. I think this rule is only true on occasion.
The eighth and final thesis is that rhetorical invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery are phenomena of nature and prior to speech. I must disagree with this thesis as well. Especially within the human means of rhetoric, invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery are not always done mentally. Consider style. How do we know what our own style is before we speak it or write it? Style is developed mentally, but until it is expressed it has no meaning.
All in all, I like the notion that rhetoric has evolved to a form of energy analogous to electricity and other forms of energy. However, I do not agree with all of the outlined theses necessary for this claim to hold true.
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