Invention/Thumb

The five canons: I always pictured them as fingers on a hand. But the five are not really equal- are they? It is the opposable thumb which gives agency, leverage, power to the other four...Is invention active in each finger's grasping of the subject at hand? Without invention is a hand a paw?

Originality Map Two and Comment on Invention

By Marian, Caleb, Tony, and Jennifer

“The ‘originality group #2’ believes this exercise was an act of invention. We didn’t create new knowledge, but that’s not necessarily the goal of invention. We responded to an exigence by creating new knowledge for ourselves. This method, for us, was hermeneutical. We created an understanding of Lauer’s text.”

Knowledge Map and Comment on Invention

By Leigh, Kara, Liane, Lathan, and Michael

“Yes our exercise is an act of invention. While we started with pre-existing knowledge, as a group we collaborated to generate an arrangement of ideas that represents our interpretation of the pre-existing knowledge. Our interpretation is that there are two opposing perspectives about knowledge’s role within invention.”

Comment on Invention (Waiting for Agency Map)

Leah, Kendra, Stacy, and Michael (Neal).“Yes: In placing this information from our chapters into a visual form, and in using interpretation to glean agency where the term may not have been used, we used invention to make meaning. This activity was not merely a recounting but a collaborative reshaping targeting our key concept of agency.”

Intertextuality Map and Comment on Invention

By Natalie and Logan

“Yes, Lauer used other people to create her text; we used Lauer to create our (thus, intertextuality) while the text we created may not contain ‘brand new knowledge’ it reconceptualized invention in the metaphor of a cave giving us easier access to knowledge about the nature of intertextuality + invention.”

Recursive Map and Comment on Invention

By Rory, Deborah, Kristie

“Is it invention: yes, because we see invention as heuristic, hermeneutic, epistemic, and a means of persuasion, and our map could be evidence of all of those.”

Originality Map One and Comment on Invention

By Elizabeth, Matt, Ruth, and Katie

“Yes. This was an inventional activity. However, the act of invention did not necessarily create new knowledge in the same way for each knowledge in the same way for each member of the group. This exercise was hermeneutical as we drew from Lauer’s text and heuristic as our collaboration texturalized our understanding of originality.”

Discovery Map and Comment on Invention

By Scott, Emami, Stephen, and Josh

“Yes - as a individual group, our work was invention since it involved hermeneutics (discussion of our interpretation of the text) and heuristics (generation of new Knowledge) via the map. As a class, we saw the presentation as an exercise in invention, particularly in our performances.”

Nature, Purpose, and Epistemology of 20th Century Rhetorical Invention

In the fourth chapter, Janice Lauer provides the continuing chronicle of invention as she divides it into three dimensions: the nature of invention; its purpose; and its epistemological power.

For this week, you may choose from two options.

The first is to take one of the dimensions above and provide a gloss on it for an audience of first-year students in two sentences max.

The second is to resist Lauer's framework and provide another term that also seems to focus the continuing interest in invention. For example, I might propose the word agency since a good deal of the debate she describes seems to center on how much agency, if any, a writer can exercise.

If you choose this option, please again use two sentences max to identify the term and outline its role in the 20th century interest in rhetorical invention.

Looking forward ;)

ky

Invention Notes 9-13

Invention Key Terms

· Agency (4)

· Recursive (4)

· Discovery (4)

· Originality (4)

· Exigence (3)

· Intertextuality (2)

· Knowledge (2)

· Process

· Collaboration

· (Re) generation

· Genre

· Goal

· Revision

· Genius

· Kairos

· Relocation

· Displacement

· Context

Tensions in notion of Invention

(Perhaps venn diagrams are more helpful for avoiding dichotomies?)

· Kairos

· Agency of Rhetor

· Discovery/Creation/Invention/Creativity/Originality/(Re)envision

o Discovery and Creation as mutually exclusive? or overlapping?

o “New” vs. already known (constructing vs. finding)

o “New” to all or “new” to individual rhetor

o Form vs. Content (scientific knowledge vs rhetorical style) (syllogistic vs empirical knowledge)

o Hermenutics vs. Heuristic (involvement of texts)

o Authorization/Who makes these distinctions? (gatekeepers/watch dogs)

§ Scholars (Academy) vs. Masses (Urban Dictionary/Wikipedia)

· Contexts involved:

o Individual

o Historical

Why do we need to know this?

Invention manifests itself in:

· Our scholarship

· Our classrooms pedagogies and students

· Our worldviews

A History of Invention

Wow! That was a lot of reading and a lot to absorb, wasn't it?

Given that you agree with the presumed answer to this question, two *quick* questions:

1. In a single sentence, what's the key point here, and how is it key (e.g, key for understanding invention as a rhetorical canon; as a point of tension in intellectual history; as connected to teaching)?

2. What one question does this chapter raise for you?

Looking forward to your summaries and your questions!