Editing Rhetoric (section)

===Criticism===
Modern [[rhetorical criticism]] explores the relationship between text and context; that is, how an instance of rhetoric relates to circumstances. Since the aim of rhetoric is to be persuasive, the level to which the rhetoric in question persuades its audience is what must be analyzed, and later criticized. In determining the extent to which a text is persuasive, one may explore the text's relationship with its audience, purpose, ethics, argument, evidence, arrangement, delivery, and style.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Speaking/Writing Connection |last=Ryan |first=David |publisher=Parthenon West Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9765684-9-0 |location=Berkeley, Calif. |page=236}}</ref>

In his ''Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in Method'', Edwin Black states, "It is the task of criticism not to measure... discourses dogmatically against some parochial standard of rationality but, allowing for the immeasurable wide range of human experience, to see them as they really are."{{r|Black1978|page=131}} While "as they really are" is debatable, rhetorical critics explain texts and speeches by investigating their [[rhetorical situation]], typically placing them in a framework of speaker/audience exchange. The antithetical view places the rhetor at the center of creating that which is considered the extant situation; i.e., the agenda and spin.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|last=Bitzer|first=Lloyd F.|title=The Rhetorical Situation|journal=[[Philosophy & Rhetoric]]|year=1968|volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–14|jstor=40236733}}
|2={{cite journal|last=Vatz|first=Richard E.|title=The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation|journal=[[Philosophy & Rhetoric]]|year=1974|volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=154–161 |jstor=40236848}}
|3={{cite book | last=Vatz | first=Richard E. | title=The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion | year=2014 | publisher=Kendall Hunt Publishing Company | isbn=978-1-4652-5925-7}}
}}</ref>

====Additional theoretical approaches====
Following the [[Neo-Aristotelianism (literature)|neo-Aristotelian]] approaches to criticism, scholars began to derive methods from other disciplines, such as history, philosophy, and the social sciences.<ref name=Jansinski2001>{{cite journal |last1=Jansinski |first1=James |title=The Status of Theory and Method in Rhetorical Criticism |url=http://blog.umd.edu/tpg/files/2012/08/Jasinski-WJC1.pdf |journal=Western Journal of Communication|year=2001 |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=249–270 |doi=10.1080/10570310109374705 |s2cid=151981343 |access-date=5 June 2017 |archive-date=29 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329060528/http://blog.umd.edu/tpg/files/2012/08/Jasinski-WJC1.pdf }}</ref>{{rp|249}} The importance of critics' personal judgment {{clarify|reason=coverage of what by whom? explicit how?|text=decreased in explicit coverage|date=September 2023}} while the analytical dimension of criticism began to gain momentum. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, methodological pluralism replaced the singular neo-Aristotelian method. Methodological rhetorical criticism is typically done by deduction, in which {{Vague|reason=what's "a broad method"?|text=a broad method|date=September 2023}} is used to examine a specific case of rhetoric.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foss|first=Sonja|year=1989|title=Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice|location=Prospect Heights|publisher=Waveland Press, Inc.}}</ref> {{clarify|reason="these" isn't appropriate as this is the first mention of "types" in the section|text=These types|date=September 2023}} include:
; [[Ideological criticism]] : ''engages rhetoric as it suggests the beliefs, values, assumptions, and interpretations held by the rhetor or the larger culture''
: Ideological criticism also treats ideology as an artifact of discourse, one that is embedded in key terms (called "[[ideographs]]") as well as material resources and discursive embodiment.
; [[Cluster criticism]] : ''seeks to help the critic understand the rhetor's worldview'' (developed by [[Kenneth Burke]])
: This means identifying terms that are "clustered" around key symbols in the rhetorical artifact and the patterns in which they appear.
; [[Frame analysis]] : ''looks for how rhetors construct an interpretive lens in their discourse''
: In short, how they make certain facts more noticeable than others. It is particularly useful for analyzing products of the news media.
; [[Genre criticism]] : ''assumes certain situations call for similar needs and expectations within the audience, therefore calling for certain types of rhetoric''
: It studies rhetoric in different times and locations, looking at similarities in the rhetorical situation and the rhetoric that responds to them. Examples include eulogies, inaugural addresses, and declarations of war.
; [[Narrative criticism]] : ''narratives help organize experiences in order to endow meaning to historical events and transformations''
: Narrative criticism focuses on the story itself and how the construction of the narrative directs the interpretation of the situation.

By the mid-1980s the study of rhetorical criticism began to move away from precise methodology towards conceptual issues. Conceptually-driven criticism<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephanie Houston|last=Grey|chapter=Conceptually-Oriented Criticism|title=Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action|editor-link=Jim A. Kuypers|editor-first=Jim A.|editor-last=Kuypers|location=Lanham, Md.|publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|year=2009}}</ref> operates more through abduction, according to scholar James Jasinski, who argues that this type of criticism can be thought of as a back-and-forth between the text and the concepts{{Specify|reason=which concepts are these? those in the text or some other set?|date=September 2023}}, which are being explored at the same time. The concepts remain "works in progress", and understanding {{clarify|reason=Are "those terms" the same as "the concepts" or something different?|text=those terms|date=September 2023}} develops through the analysis of a text.{{r|Jansinski2001|page=256}}

Criticism is considered rhetorical when it focuses on the way some types of discourse react to situational exigencies—problems or demands—and constraints. Modern rhetorical criticism concerns how the rhetorical case or object persuades, defines, or constructs the audience. In modern terms, rhetoric includes, but it is not limited to, speeches, scientific discourse, pamphlets, literary work, works of art, and pictures. Contemporary rhetorical criticism has maintained aspects of early neo-Aristotelian thinking through close reading, which attempts to explore the organization and stylistic structure of a rhetorical object.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Leff |first=Michael |year=2001 |title=Lincoln at Cooper Union: Neo-Classical Criticism Revisited |journal=Western Journal of Communication |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=232–48 |doi=10.1080/10570310109374704 |s2cid=157684635}}</ref> Using close textual analysis means rhetorical critics use the tools of classical rhetoric and literary analysis to evaluate the style and strategy used to communicate the argument.

====Purpose of criticism====
Rhetorical criticism serves several purposes. For one, it hopes to help form or improve public taste. It helps educate audiences and develops them into better judges of rhetorical situations by reinforcing ideas of value, morality, and suitability. Rhetorical criticism can thus contribute to the audience's understanding of themselves and society.

According to Jim A. Kuypers, a second purpose for performing criticism should be to enhance our appreciation and understanding. "[W]e wish to enhance both our own and others' understanding of the rhetorical act; we wish to share our insights with others, and to enhance their appreciation of the rhetorical act. These are not hollow goals, but quality of life issues. By improving understanding and appreciation, the critic can offer new and potentially exciting ways for others to see the world. Through understanding we also produce knowledge about human communication; in theory this should help us to better govern our interactions with others." Criticism is a humanizing activity in that it explores and highlights qualities that make us human.{{r|Jim A 2009|page=13}}