The Structure of The “Concrete Universal” in Literature

PMLA ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 262-280
Author(s):  
W. K. Wimsatt
Keyword(s):  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Literary Art ◽  
Concrete Universal ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Individual Thing

The central argument of this essay, concerning what for want of a better name I shall, adapting the terminology of Hegel, call the “concrete universal,” proceeds from the observation that literary theorists have from early times to the present persisted in making statements which in their contexts seem to mean that a work of literary art is in some peculiar sense a very individual thing or a very universal thing or both. What that paradox can mean, or what important fact behind the paradox has been discerned by such various critics as Aristotle, Plotinus, Hegel, Whitehead and Ransom, it will be the purpose of the essay to inquire, and by the inquiry to discuss not only a significant feature of metaphysical poetics from Aristotle to the present day but the relation between metaphysical poetics and more practical and specific rhetorical analysis. In the brief historical survey which forms one part of this essay it will not be my purpose to suggest that any of these writers meant exactly what I shall mean in later parts where I describe the structure of poetry. Yet throughout the essay I shall proceed on the theory not only that men have at different times used the same terms and have meant differently, but that they have sometimes used different terms and have meant the same or somewhat the same. In other words, I assume that there is continuity in the problems of criticism, and that a person who studies poetry today has interest in what Plato said about poetry.

First as Sociology, Then as Geography

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
Justin Tse
Keyword(s):  
Social Geography ◽  
New Age ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Critical Geography ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Ideological Work ◽  
The Way

This essay reviews Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus's New Age Spiritualities: Rethinking Religion. It shows that their attempt to redefine religion through new age spiritualities is actually an attempt to impose an economically elite social geography onto religious studies as a social fact. My central argument is that this effort in turn reveals that religious studies serves as a sociological factory for liberal economic ideologies. It suggests that to mitigate this ideological work, a shift toward critical geography in religious studies is the way forward.

PROPULSION AND CATALYSIS - HISTORICAL SURVEY, UP-TO-DATE OVERVIEW, AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 413-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Kappenstein ◽  
Yann Batonneau ◽  
Rachid Brahmi ◽  
Laurence Pirault-Roy
Keyword(s):  
Historical Survey

A Brief Historical Survey of the Anatomophysiology of the Human Body

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Musitelli ◽  
Maria Antonella Bertozzi
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Historical Survey

Corporate Social Responsibility Rhetoric in Times of Crises. A Rhetorical Analysis of CSR Reports Prior to and After Major Corporate Crises

MedienJournal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Maria Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
General Motors ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting ◽  
One Year ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Corporate Crises ◽  
Corporate Crisis

Corporate Social Responsibility reporting has grown increasingly in importance for companies in terms of portraying themselves as good corporate citizens. However, when confronted with a major corporate crisis that evoked an extensive loss in stakeholders’ trust, it remained unclear, how to further deal with the need for CSR communication without presenting oneself as exceedingly hypocritical. In the course of this study, the questions of how and to what extent crises cause change in a corporation’s CSR rhetoric were addressed. Therefore, the utilization of the rhetorical dimensions of logos, ethos, pathos, cosmos and autopoiesis as well as the amount of negative disclosure in the CSR reports of the world’s leading automobile companies (Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen) were analyzed, one year before and one year after they had maneuvered themselves into a corporate crisis. The rhetorical analysis revealed that the distinctive context of each case (including the corporations’ responsibility for the crisis) dictated the rhetorical adjustments of the CSR reporting after the crisis. Moreover, it could be shown, that when reporting on the crisis cause itself, corporations tend to apply the dimension of ethos more frequently to counter the audience’s potential perception of their hypocrisy.

Information Literacy and Education Policy: An Instrumental Case Study of the Ontario Public School Curriculum

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Liv Russell
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
Instrumental Case Study ◽  
Student Access ◽  
Literacy Policy ◽  
Étude Cas

This interdisciplinary case study explores information literacy policy in Ontario’s public education system. Using interviews with policy makers and a rhetorical analysis of information literacy policy documents, it finds Ontario’s current information literacy policy inadequate to the task of providing equitable student access to opportunities for information literacy development.Une étude cas interdisciplinaire explore la politique de littératie informationnelle du système d’éducation publique de l’Ontario. En utilisant des entrevues avec les décideurs et une analyse rhétorique des documents sur la politique de littératie informationnelle, il est démontré que la politique de littératie informationnelle actuelle de l’Ontario est inappropriée pour la mission qui vise à offrir aux étudiants un accès équitable aux possibilités de développement de la littératie informationnelle. 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document