Place in the Liberal Arts

Randall Fowler is Assistant Professor of Political Rhetoric and Director of Undergraduate Research at Abilene Christian University, USA. The author of four previous books, his scholarly interests include presidential rhetoric, the rhetoric of religion, the Cold War, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. J. Scott Lee is the co-founder of the Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC), a worldwide professional, liberal arts, and higher education society of colleges and universities. He was the Executive Director of ACTC for 24 years. Based on original data collection and ethnographic research in higher education, he advised diverse general and liberal education programs in over 75 institutions on four continents. Since retiring from ACTC, he has published a book on liberal arts education’s history and rejuvenation, book chapters on invention and rhetoric in the liberal arts in collected volumes, and book reviews on invention and the evolution of semiotics in humans and other species.

• Introduction: A Place We Go to Think; 1. The Power of Moral Purpose and the Faculty of Speech in Epictetus; 2. Speaking Publicly: Situating the Rhetoric of Jesus’ Arguments; 3. Aristotle’s Topics: Powerful thinking or dangerous sophistry? 4. Internet as Topos: Immediacy, Amplification, and Association; 5. Topoi at Work: The Rhetoric of Universal Basic Income and Getting Paid; 6. Writing Publicly: Seeking Thought in Public Topoi; Conclusion: Rhetorical Artistry, Place, and Flow of the Written and Spoken Word; Index