Date
4-2012
Department
School of Communication and Digital Content
Degree
Master of Arts in Communication (MA)
Chair
Faith E. Mullen
Primary Subject Area
Biology, General; Language, Rhetoric and Composition; Speech Communication
Keywords
Creation, Criticism, Evolution, George Kennedy, Ideology, Rhetoric
Disciplines
Communication | Critical and Cultural Studies | Evolution | Rhetoric and Composition | Speech and Rhetorical Studies
Recommended Citation
Begley, James, "From a Rodent to a Rhetorician: An Ideological Analysis of George Alexander Kennedy's Comparative Rhetoric" (2012). Masters Theses. 219.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/219
Abstract
George Alexander Kennedy, a professor of classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has given birth to a new understanding of rhetorical studies: he argues for the evolution of rhetoric from animals to humans. Using Sonja Foss's methodology of "ideological criticism," this thesis examined Kennedy's case as presented in his book, Comparative Rhetoric: an Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction. This study discovered that the book was heavily influenced by a secular, pro-evolutionary ideology which dually contributed to its selective use of scientific evidences and production of inconsistent arguments. Evaluated on the basis of Biblical principles, this thesis concluded that the metaphysical assumptions outlined in the Genesis narrative should be encouraged as an alternative explanation for the origins of human and animal communication.
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Evolution Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
