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Art of Persuasion: 700 BC to 1000 AD - CED00220C

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  • Department: Centre for Lifelong Learning
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Catherine-Rose Hailstone
  • Credit value: 10 credits
  • Credit level: C
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module summary

Rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, has shaped the world in political, legal, and cultural contexts since the time of the Ancient Greeks. This module will introduce students to the many ways that ideas about rhetoric have emerged and developed from the Ancient to the Early Medieval world (500 BC to 1000 AD), so that they might develop a critical understanding of the techniques that are required in the art of persuasion; the impact that rhetoric has had in shaping the course of History; and the influence that the art of persuasion continues to exert on the production of History today.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Summer Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module aims to introduce students to the topics of rhetoric and persuasion and how these develop from the Ancient to the Early Medieval world (700 BC to 1000 AD) in their political and cultural contexts. Through studying how attitudes towards the theory and practice of rhetoric change from the ancient to the medieval world, this module will enable students to acquire knowledge in the transferrable skills required to persuade others in addition to developing the analytical and evaluative skills required for critical thinking and studying History at an undergraduate level at York.

Module learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate a knowledge of how attitudes towards rhetorical theory and practice have developed over the period.
  • Identify different rhetorical techniques that will enable them to recognise when rhetoric is being used and to use it themselves to construct persuasive arguments.
  • Analyse and evaluate primary and secondary historical literature on rhetoric.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Critical essay		 N/A 100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Critical essay		 N/A 100

Module feedback

The tutor will give regular individual verbal and written feedback throughout the module on work submitted.

The assessment feedback is as per the university’s guidelines with regard to timings.

Indicative reading

Primary:

  • Plato, The Republic, trans. G. Ferrari (Cambridge, 2000).
  • Plato, Gorgias, trans. T. Irwin (Oxford, 1979).
  • Aristotle, ‘Rhetoric’ in The Complete Works of Aristotle, ed. J. Barnes (Oxford, 1995).
  • Cicero, On the Orator, trans. W. E. Sutton (Cambridge, 2014).
  • Cicero, De Inventione, trans. H. M. Hubbell (Cambridge, 2014).
  • Quintilian, The Orator’s Education, trans. D. A. Russel (Cambridge, 2001).
  • Augustine, On Christian Teaching, trans. R. Green (Oxford, 1999).
  • Augustine, Confessions, trans. H. Chadwick (Oxford, 1991)
  • Martianus Capella, The Marriage of Mercury and Philology volume II, ed. trans. W.H. Stahl (New York, 1992).
  • Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, trans. Lewis Thorpe (London, 1973).
  • Isidore of Seville, The Etymologies, trans. Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof (Cambridge, 2006).
  • Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, trans. B. Colgram and R. Mynors (Oxford, 1979).
  • Alcuin, ‘Disputation on Rhetoric,’ in The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne ed. W.S. Howell, (Princeton, 1941).

Secondary:

  • T. Conley, Rhetoric in the European Tradition (Chicago, 1990).
  • B. Vickers, In Defence of Rhetoric (Oxford, 1988).
  • E. Gunderson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rhetoric (Cambridge, 2009).
  • G.A. Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric and its Christian and Secular Tradition. 2nd rev. ed. (London, 1999).
  • G.A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric. (Princeton, 1994).


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.