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Controversies
Index.
jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
Last updated
The Free Speech website, http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/
What do these categories mean? |
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A "brief" is a way of recording the essence of a controversy. Lawyers are of course the most frequent writers of briefs, but the rest of us can also draft briefs: as aids for our memory and to help us straighten out and assess what really happened in some complex and possibly heated interchange. Briefing forms vary, depending what the brief-er is primarily interested in. The form used in this Controversies Bank and in Comm Studies C30 is adapted from Lloyd Bitzer's vital essay, "The Rhetorical Situation," Philosophy and Rhetoric vol. 1 (1968) p. 1. According to Bitzer, every "rhetorical situation"--every instance in which some group faces a choice which can be affected by communication--has three basic elements: exigence, audience and constraints. |
Case Type: |
Actual: The controversy occurred just as stated. Historical: The controversy occurred just as stated and is now closed; it no longer presents a "rhetorical situation." Fictionalized: The controversy occurred largely as stated, but minor details have been changed or added. Hypothetical: The case was made up by someone, although it may be close to controversies that have happened or could happen. |
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Exigence: |
According to Bitzer: "Any exigence is 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." The exigence is what starts the controversy going; it is whatever is making people mad, whatever is driving them to change the world.
Free speech controversies tend to have exigences which fall into two parts. The first part is the "facts of the case." One person's speech has made another person mad; or maybe, one person has made another person shut up. This is the basic exigence. But there will often be a second part of the exigence as well, when the courts get involved. One person sues or jails another for some speech; the loser in the court case appeals, and the case may eventually come before the Supreme Court. Then there is a second part to the exigence: the "procedural history" of how the dispute got before the Court.
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Audience: |
According to Bitzer: "A rhetorical audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change."
The primary audience of free speech controversies which wind up in court is of course the judge or judges of that court. Other controversies may be decided by the general public or by some smaller group, such as the Northwestern community.
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Possible |
According to Bitzer: "Every rhetorical situation contains a set of constraints 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 exigence. Standard sources of constraint include beliefs, attitudes, documents, facts, traditions, images, interests, motives and the like; and when the orator enters the situation, his discourse not only harnesses constraints given by the situatin but provides additional important constraints -- for example his personal character, his logical proofs, and his style."
Anything which can constrain (focus, limit, direct) an audience's decision may show up in the "constraints" section of the brief. For example, previous Supreme Court cases may constrain how the Court handles later cases; so former decisions will often appear in this section. So will additional facts, which might tilt the decision one way or the other.
But the main possible constraints are the arguments which the advocates will use in speaking to the audience. The constraints listed in the brief will never exhaust the arguments which can be made in a controversy. In fact, the main purpose of this Controversy Bank is to give the reader material with which to design his or her arguments to constrain the audience's decision.
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Decision: |
If the audience made a decision, it will be recorded here. Otherwise, it's up to you.
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Related |
This section will include links to the pages indexing controversies according to issue.
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Notes: |
Whatever I happen to want to add.
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Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved. jeangoodwin@nwu.edu Last updated The Free Speech website, http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/ |
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