philosophy/rhetoric

A few posts back, I mentioned that I'm teaching philosophy in a new program that offers low income people in the community a free course in the humanities. Why a person who specializes in rhetoric is teaching philosophy is a good question, and the answer leads to a discussion about which department heads support this sort of outreach effort and which (cough) do not. Local politics aside, given the list of associations with philosophy the Odyssey students generated at the beginning of class last night, the better question--and the one that has vexed rhetoricians and philosophers alike for millennia--is this: in what ways doesn't a rhetoric specialist already traffic in philosophy? Here's the list:

beliefs
theories
convictions
experience
perception
abstract
argumentative
motives
dangerous
Why?
weird
the color brown

Comments

[Definer]

Do we rhetorical scholars study the color brown? I must have missed that class. But now I have this incredible desire to critique "brown."

[Z]

Is the idea that philosophers tend to wear brown? I thought that was black. Or do they go to Brown? Maybe... What's the deal? Englighten us, philo-rhetor.

[dhawhee]

This was one of my favorite responses to the question of what they associate with philosophy--perhaps it's one of the great philosophical mysteries, but I think we could come up with some good accounts: maybe it has to do with uncertainty or contingency (ie not black) or for more context we might look at the other associations this particular student wrote down: books, calm and reflective people, Buddha, old libraries, new ideas, ideas that are initially rejected fervently by the masses, then years later accepted. You know, brown. I think Buddha and old libraries (oak shelves and tables, etc.) give the hint that this person has strong material associations with philosophy that are best rendered visually, as a color. Brown.

[Lance]

So who's the weirdest rhetorician you know (or know of)?

[Z]

What can brown do for you?

[caraf]

I thought gray was the new brown. At least that's what they said last week on Project Runway.