Thanks for the good conversation today: clearly, we're going to find the hermeneutics/heuristics binary a productive site of discussion. Since we didn't complete our tasks--the last one was to identify the key terms that will frame our inquiry into invention--let's complete that here. Toward that end, please nominate two terms that you think should be in this set of terms. The object, you'll remember, is for us to have a set of five or so terms. And for the time being, let's disregard h & h.
Please complete your posting by a week from today. And your posts, btw, are doing exactly as I'd hoped in that you're making great connections with each other's points.
Thanks!
Since we're coming up with terms that will "frame" our discussion about invention, one term that has subtly come up in the past two weeks and that seems to be related to a lot of what we're talking about is AGENCY. I'm borrowing from Marian here, because she keyed in on this term when we were coming up with our definitions of invention in week 1. The talk was of, invention (we decided) being a recursive process, how much agency the inventor has if she is reliant on former texts for knowledge and even inspiration. For instance, during research, one text leads to another text leads to another, etc. Sure, the inventor has to choose to continue to research, but the ideas she has are being steered by the existing texts and by her own experiences. This may be veering into free-will territory, but I still think it's an interesting question and one that may have more productive value when it becomes time to apply it in pedagogy.
ReplyDeleteThe second term I would nominate would be one that I've already mentioned, RECURSIVE. I also like this one for the sake of pedagogy because I like to think of invention as something that continues to occur throughout the creation of a text, and I think students would do well to think of it this way too. For example, we may compose our way into an argument that needs to be made that we had not considered at the beginning. Invention is then needed to decide how to structure that argument to serve the needs of the composition.
I hope these aren't too far off base. I'll be interested to see what people think about them.
Great start, Stephen, and thanks. So two words as a beginning.
ReplyDeleteAGENCY
RECURSIVE.
What say the rest of you?
Here's a pretty good example of how invention is taught: http://www.unc.edu/tlim/wc/
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder how students would learn to write if invention were presented in a more contextualized way. Don't get me wrong: I think the video is pretty cool. But also pretty de-contextualized.
I think I'm going to have to agree with Stephen at least for one of the key terms: AGENCY. It seems that agency connects to a lot of the questions we have been asking, especially, but not limited to, our discussion about originality.
ReplyDeleteAnother two words I want to add are PROCESS and COLLABORATION (a side note: it makes me nervous to keep putting words in all caps, but I’m following Stephen and KY’s example =).
For PROCESS (in my head I am screaming the word…), in our discussion (and in all four of our definitions) the word has been repeated, and this makes sense because invention is part of the composing and writing process. Some interesting questions for me are how many times in the composing process does invention happen or when does it happen. Is it always at the beginning of the composing process? Always linear? Always moving forward? Does it—the process of invention—always work? The process (or PROcess) of invention is a pivotal part of any composition/writing and as such the composition classroom.
The second term I want to add is COLLABORATION because I think this is probably a word we wouldn’t normally jump right at to use as a key term for invention. I wonder, too, how in defining colLABORation we might be able to link it directly to the PROcess of invention.
So that’s it. Those are my key terms. =)
Like Kara, I nominate process: it just has to be there, as it was present in every one of our group definitions.
ReplyDeleteBut since she's nominated it already, I'll go with two others: discovery and originality.
Discovery is a term that's commonly associated with invention, though I'm undecided whether I like that association. The problem for me (and for many of you as well, I'm sure) is discovery's connotations: that is, that whatever you're looking for is already out there, and all you have to do is unearth it. It's too Platonic for me, the notion that we discover rather than create, because it strips us of our agency.
Originality--that is, what is original and is what we generate through invention original--is a question many of us kicked around after the first class. I imagine that question won't go away any time soon.
I have to go with "(RE)GENERATION" to tag along with Ror's notion of "discovery" or "originality." Again, we are struggling with a game of semantics that works to capture the process of what we make and how in a world of post-modern invention. I'm not sure we will ever be content as a group with a term for this, but I think the notion is still worth our time and effort.
ReplyDeleteFor my second term I think I'm going to go with "EXIGENCE." I know we haven't chatted about it too much in class, but I think it's important for us to think about why we are moved to invention. Is there always an exigence? Is is goal-driven? Can spontaneity be an exigence? Either way, there is usually a "why" to this whole process, no?
Some thoughts on other potential nominees . . .
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought about nominating intertextuality. And, although I think it may be helpful, perhaps GENRE might be a better choice. This connects to both Natalie's term exigence and Stephen's term agency. As authors invent they driven both by specific texts that they have encountered and by the more intangible generic expectations of the form in which they are composing. While the exigence of their invention may be to write a paper about WWII, the genre in which they are composing is also a key component in the process of invention that they embark on.
Secondly, one point that came up in our group was the notion that in the process of invention there are multiple goals of different orders (like, high and low) set throughout the process. So, I might add to our list of nominees GOALS. While I generally think of exigence as referring more broadly to the rhetorical situation, throughout the process of invention multiple goals are realized, achieved, and make way for new goals that are all part of the recursiveness of this process.
A recap of terms that have been nominated so far:
Agency
Recursive
Process
Collaboration
Discovery
Originality
(Re)generation
Exigence
Genre
Goal
In thinking about the recursive nature of invention, I wonder if REVISION (screaming, like Kara) might be an appropriate term to consider, especially as invention is, as Kara mentioned, a process. I am interested in seeing how these terms, revision, process, and recursive play out as we continue to discuss the nature of invention. As we create, are we constantly reworking our plan, fitting it to the rhetorical situation within which we are working? Perhaps invention is not only recursive, but also specifically an act of (re)vision in which we assess what we have done and then adapt our plan according to the evolved text before us.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I will re-nominate ORIGINALITY as a worthy term for discussion. This really seems to be the core of the whole discussion around invention, as it seems to speak more to what happens in invention rather than to how invention happens.
I'm putting in a vote for ORIGINALITY also. While it is a tricky term, I think it needs to be there--somewhere in the collecting/assembling/discovering/interpreting, there is a synthesis that works in an original way.
ReplyDeleteI also will vote for RECURSIVE, mostly just because I just like it. The idea of invention as recursive is a positive one. I am excited that invention can continue to happen throughout a rhetorical process. Recursive invention can aid in originality.
I have to second Natalie’s choice: EXIGENCE! I agree with Nat that it is an important term because it represents the basis for an occasion of writing and is the spur that initiates invention in the first place. It seems to me that if we are to discuss invention at all, we should have an understanding of circumstances for that invention. Since, we might say, invention represents structures for discovery, an understanding of exigence might serve as a blueprint for such structures. Yes, exigence refers specifically to the rhetorical situation, but I think we can also talk about goals (a la Katie) of the rhetor more broadly with this term.
ReplyDeleteI might also suggest: KNOWLEDGE! Many of us are kicking around the term “originality” which, in my mind, ultimately leads to questions about the nature of knowledge. Does invention merely involve the arrangement of already-known knowledge? Is invention the creation of new knowledge? Is it possible to be both? Does invention only “count” as invention if new knowledge is produced? Does the process of assemblage of knowledge itself create new knowledge? How can we talk about “originality” in terms of knowledge? etc.
I also like "agency"--though I wish I could also think of a corollary term to champion the idea of beginning with pre-existing tools. I would be interested to discuss "intertexuality," particularly in relationship to digital literacies. While I agree with Katie that this term is related to "genre," and "type," I think it also reopens our discussions about hermeneutics and heuristics.
ReplyDeleteI think we’ve got a good list going so far, and the ones I’m thinking of are already on it, so I’m just going to second a couple of terms that have already been nominated. First, like Rory, I’d like to nominate the term DISCOVERY, although part of the reason is that I don’t agree with him that thinking of invention as discovery has to strip us of our agency. Couldn’t we be discovering what we can make of the ideas of others when we invent, and wouldn’t the person doing that kind of discovering have agency, by definition? And the connection between invention and discovery really goes all the way back to Aristotle, right? So I think it would be worth exploring in more depth.
ReplyDeleteOf course our ideas about the nature of knowledge have changed a great deal since Aristotle’s day, and that is why the connection between discovery and invention is not as clean and clear for us as it was for him. And, for that reason, I’d like to second Josh’s idea that another one of the terms be KNOWLEDGE. As Josh points out, how we define knowledge will naturally delimit how we can conceive of invention.
LOL- according to Francis Bacon Invention is like shooting fish in a barrel: "So to speak truly it is no invention, but a remembrance...Nevertheless because we do account it a chase as well of deer in an enclosed park as in a forest at large, and that it hath already obtained the name, let it be called invention" (12). Very a priori/Platonic as Rory said about DISCOVERY. I will throw out GENIUS --- Merriam Webster online says:
ReplyDeleteMain Entry: ge·nius
Pronunciation: \ˈjēn-yəs, ˈjē-nē-əs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, tutelary spirit, natural inclinations, from gignere to beget
Inflected Forms: plural ge·nius·es or ge·nii\-nē-ˌī\
Date: 1513
1
a plural genii : an attendant spirit of a person or place
b plural usually genii : a person who influences another for good or bad
2
: a strong leaning or inclination : penchant
3
a : a peculiar, distinctive, or identifying character or spirit
b : the associations and traditions of a place
c : a personification or embodiment especially of a quality or condition
4
plural usually genii : spirit, jinni
5
plural usually geniuses
a : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude
b : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity
c : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ
A tutelary spirit, a place, a body, to beget, a guide--
the body, guide, and place all were named as connected to invention...
I also want to say DIALOGUE-- as in back and forth negotiation/conversation-- a shifting of position to find a good balanced stance. This can be with self-talk, with facts, with a situation. GENIUS and DIALOGUE help to = INVENTION
I'm also adding my vote for DISCOVERY. I don't think of discovery in terms of finding something that already exists (which sounds like your concern Rory) but through thinking about a topic you'll end up devising or pioneering the means of persuasion best suited to that line of inquiry. Thus, I have always associated discovery with creation.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I think RECURSIVE is an important key term, as others have already mentioned. We invent and reinvent at every stage of the writing process.
Like reflection, I believe that inventions (as others have said) should occur at every phase of the writing process. Thus, I will renominate RECURSIVE as a term.
ReplyDeleteAlso, like Marian, I believe that INTERTEXTUALITY should also be considered in our list of terms, especially in response to the hermeneutic/heuristic debate. Clearly there can be no isolated texts (or invention of those texts). With that said, it is crucial for us to study how texts inform one another and inform the creation of new texts.
I think I'd have to go with Exigence and Kairos. That may well just be because I read the cartoon above and think greed is less likely the father than opportunity, but I think that Kairos more fully fits than opportunity.
ReplyDeleteTo turn momentarily to hermeneutics (which is one of the terms we discussed but not one of my top two), the biblical Hebrew word for Kairos is "et." This reading is from a paper I wrote regarding Kairos in Hebrew in which I used Ecclesiastes as my primary source. (Think the Yard Birds' "turn turn turn".)
I know this feels like a tangent, but let me get through it...
Et can either be spelled with an Aleph (the first letter of the alphabet in Hebrew) or an Ayin. When spelled with the Aleph, it means Kairos. When spelled with an Ayin, it means pen.
Exigence provides the mother, the need to invent. Kairos hands us the pen.
Albeit late (thanks for the tutorial on how to post, Kendra) I'd like to add to the definitions of invention and include RELOCATON, and DISPLACEMENT as terms. In differing environments and with variable constraints applied, what a writer can accomplish or "come up with" can vary. This leads me to another term that is more specific to the reading: TESTING.
ReplyDeleteI am on the fringe with using AGENCY as a term. Lauer's introduction mentions a debate amongst scholars as to whether inventional activities are an exercise of agency or if through them,the writer him/herself is actually "written by these acts"(3). While agency is certainly an issue of debate, I question whether it is necessary from the point of the writer--especially with regard to student writers who are given assigments (if not prompts) with specific guidelines as to the genre and process by which to complete the paper, even if it is a personal narrative.
Again, I apologize for the late submission.
Jessica
Hope I'm not too late, but I would like to agree with Caleb and others who have nominated ORIGINALITY as a term worthy of discussion. I think particularly because the very idea of originality is problematic in a post-modern world, determining what it is and how it relates to the invention process is an important discussion.
ReplyDeleteRelated to originality, I want to agree with the many people who have nominated AGENCY. How much control does the rhetor have in the invention process. What does she have control over?
I'm going to go back to the first suggestion: agency as one term, and I'll also suggest "context" because I think we should consider how invention is shaped by context, or is constructed socially.
ReplyDelete