W7220
Course Unit Outline
Unit Code
W7220
Unit Name
Rhetoric, Truth and Knowledge
Unit Weighting
9 cps
Type of Unit
Intermediate
Prerequisites, corequisites
W7106 or W7109
Academic Staff
Andrew Murray, BA (Macquarie 1974), MA (CUA Washington DC 1983) GradDipHEd (UNSW 1998), PhD (CUA
1992), Senior Lecturer
The Faculty Register lists those teachers that are accredited to teach this unit.
Curriculum Objectives
This course unit contributes to the programme by developing students’ appreciation of the character of human
knowledge in its various forms, including scientific understanding. It will enable students to appreciate the differing
kinds of human communication in language and to acquire skills in using it. As ministers of the Word graduates will be
called upon to speak publicly with sensitivity and with understanding of what they are doing.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit students should be able to:
1. Distinguish different kinds of knowledge and opinion
2. Articulate the principles of rhetoric
3. Analyse a speech or similar communication
4. Assess truth claims in different contexts
5. Exercise effective communication skills
Threshold concept to be acquired in this unit
The different forms of human reasoning; the different forms of human communication.
Content
1. Greek distinction of opinion, knowledge, error and ignorance
2. The principles of classical rhetoric
3. A close reading of Aristotle’s Rhetoric
4. Analysis of speeches and written texts
5. Aristotle and Aquinas on the intellectual virtues
6. Entry of science into public discussion
Learning Activities
Lectures, seminar presentations, discussion groups
Required Specialist Facilities or Equipment
Nil
Assessment Profile
Assessments tasks are designed both to help students attain the unit outcomes and to enable teachers to
assess student attainment. In this unit, assessment of student achievement with respect to the Learning Outcomes
will be based on:
1. Analysis of a speech or other piece of writing (e.g. essay or presentation). [Outcomes 2, 3 and 4]
2. Display of skill in communicating (e.g. seminar or specified performance). [Outcomes 2 and 3]
3. Close study of the theoretical aspects of the course (e.g. essay). [Outcomes 1, 4 and 5]
Representative References
1. Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by H. C. Lawson-Tancred. London: Penguin, 2004.
2. Audi, Robert. Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (Routledge Contemporary
Introductions to Philosophy). 3rd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2011)
3. Barilli, Renato. Rhetoric. Theory and History of Literature, vol. 63. Translated by Giuliana Menozzi.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
4. Cunningham, David, S. Faithful Persuasion: In Aid of a Rhetoric of Christian Theology. Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.
5. Enos, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age. New
York: Garland Pub Inc., 1996.
6. Evers, Dirk et al (eds). How do we Know? Understanding in Science and Theology. London: T & T Clark,
2010.
7. Murray, Andrew. What Can the Church Say?: Politics and Religion in Contemporary Australia. Strathfield:
St Pauls Publications, 2005.
8. Plato, Meno, Gorgias. In The Collected Works of Plato. Edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.
9. Robson, Pamela. (ed) Great Australian Speeches: Landmard Speeches that Defined and Shaped our Nation.
Sydney: Murdoch Books, 2009.
10. Rorty, Amelie Oksenberg. Essays in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1996.
11. Tauber, Alfred I. Science and the Quest for Meaning. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009.
12. Warhaft, Sally. Well May We Say: The Speeches that Made Australia. Melbourne, Black Inc, 2004.
13. Wood, W. J. Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous. Downers Grove, IL. Intervarsity Press, 1999.