Blog Post 14
ARCS chap 11
Chapter 11 talks
about copying and paraphrase. Aristotle said the ability to imitate is what distinguishes
us from animals. Indeed, human being is the specie which can mimic different vocalizations.
This is why we can study different languages. Quintilian said imitation is a “universal
rule of life” (p.11). People want to copy what they like in others. I connect
this idea with my own experience. I like to imitate the way music singers sing.
It makes me feel good singing a song that I like. The chapter also talked about
how handwriting a copy enhances one’s memory. If you handwrite a document over
and over again, it’s going to reinforce each word in your memory. I feel like
typing doesn’t really enhance your memory because it doesn’t give you the time
to think and draw the symbol (the word), you press the button key and the word
bumps out, thus you don’t have enough time to acknowledge or recall the
spelling of the word. Even though copying is good for memorization, it causes
problem of plagiarizing. Because people have the habit to use hand-copies in
the past, it becomes a tradition to use copies. Nowadays, digital copying
enables people to copy quickly and encourages piracy. You can find illegal book
copies, and CD copies everywhere. People can download their favorite movies
anytime if it’s available on Youtube. They could also make illegal music videos
based on these movies. So many fan made videos are illegal but are not removed
from Youtube. I think digital copying’s impact on society is similar to Facebook.
It spreads messages to the world. Now, many pirate version of Japanese films,
American films, music, videos and books can be found in China, and other
countries. People not only copy the original version, they also copy the
rhetorical styles, and the way of speaking, analyzing.
Whately, pp.1000-1030
Richard Whately focuses
on the idea that discovery and reasoning are different. Discovery is based on experience
while reasoning is based on argument. He said that probability is the
foundation of discovery. As a rhetor, Whately used both logic and science in
his argument. I think that Whately’s rhetoric is a lot similar to Aristotle
because they both explore the definitions of different terminology. For
example, Whately said condition is different from the cause while similar to
the conclusion. This definition is tricky but very specific. It shows that
thought causes, conclusion and condition are similar, they still have some
differences. He said that in the case of piracy, people should not destroy the
book until it is proven a pirate version. The responsibility to prove the book
is or isn’t pirate lies on the accuser and the author. He also said people can
let their ideologies affect their judgment towards others. People are able to
decide based on their standards whether a situation worth their pity. If
someone doesn’t meet their standard or ideologies as they expected, they would
not show pity or respect him. In such case, one’s ideology blinds him or her
from the truth. I think that Richard Whately’s ideas are very modern and
open-minded. He combines science and logic, which distinguishes him from
ancient rhetors, because ancient rhetors solely based their argument on logic. His
ideas set standard for modern day issues too. For example, in court, the judge
should not bias any sides of the issue. He shouldn't give an assertion or judgement when there is no evidence provided. He should not let his own preference or
ideologies get into his way. As a good individual, we shouldn’t judge a
stranger based on our own preference.
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