I found
George Kennedy’s article, “A Hoot in the Dark: The Evolution of General
Rhetoric” to be thoroughly fascinating. Throughout the article, he tries to pin
down certain universal rules for rhetoric since the definition of it has
changed quite a lot over the past 2200 years or so. In order to develop these
universal rules, he looks at animal communication and rhetoric in order to get
at the most basic of definitions. I had never thought of animals having
rhetoric before this, but after reading this article I agreed with George
Kennedy. Rhetoric is more than spoken communication – there are “some features
of communication in common among many species, including human beings,
apparently favored by natural selection in evolution from the earliest forms of
life.” (20)
Kennedy
first defines rhetoric as a form of energy such as – the energy forcing the
speaker to act, the energy to act, the energy level in the message, and the
energy for the recipient to understand the message. After making this one
declaration, he quickly and concisely goes through eight other theses to
sharpen this definition of rhetoric. These theses show how rhetoric has
assisted evolution and natural selection. It also reveals that the traditional
aspects of rhetoric actually precede the idea of speech.
Kennedy’s
first main thesis, “ Rhetoric is prior to speech,” helps to explain what he means
by rhetoric is energy. He states that before speech can take place, there needs
to be reason behind the communication – an exigence. But he is quick to say
that speech only evolved in humans because rhetoric already existed in nature.
Animals experience exigencies and reasons to act and communicate with others
all the time. And it is because rhetoric was already a part of nature and the evolutionary
chain that humans took the next step with rhetoric and used language and speech
to communicate. Nature has favored communication all along because, even though
it costs energy, it is far “less costly than physical motion, such as flight or
fight.” (4)
Upon
understanding the idea that rhetoric has been a part of nature since before
humans, it made me think of the movie “Jurassic Park 3,” specifically the velociraptors.
One of the main aspects of the movie are the raptors and how they have complex
communicational skills. Many of the theses that Kennedy states can be
illustrated with this example.
The
raptors in the movie have various different “calls” that they use depending on
the situation. While the ability to create these different calls are a part of
their anatomy, when to use them can be learned and imitated. Kennedy states that
by observations, humans and animals can learn to understand features of each other’s
rhetoric. In the movie, Grant observes and learns the raptor call for “help.”
At the end, he imitates this call (with a raptor skull fossil) in order to confuse
the raptors (so they won’t eat them).
This
only works because the meaning for the call was already understood by the
raptor before Grant used it. This is also Kennedy’s second thesis – “the
receiver’s interpretation of a communication is prior to the speaker’s intent in
determining the meaning.” (7) At one point in the movie, the humans try to run
into a herd of herbivores to disguise themselves but as soon as the other
dinosaurs see the raptors they flee. The raptors use this confusion in order to
work together and separate the humans. Actions are interpreted differently by
the various animals and do not always match the original being’s intent.
Kennedy
also states that animals have the ability to lie in order to secure their own
protection, seek out food, or find a mate. The raptors at one point set up a
trap. They injure one of the people and leave him in plain sight of the others.
When they go to rescue him, the raptors will then go in for the kill. This not
only illustrates the idea that the meaning precedes action (of what to do with
a downed comrade) but that rhetoric helps to determine survival of the fittest
(thesis four). By being able to trick their food to come to them, they use less
energy than they would if they had to chase them down. The velociraptors in the
movie are designed to be smarter than primates but I believe that they
illustrate aspects of Kennedy’s theses perfectly. Rhetoric is a form of energy
that has been present in the world long before not only human speech but humans
at all.
Laura: I really like this example, as it goes well with the arguments Kennedy makes in his first thesis. This also makes me think of the duck, turkey and other animals calls that humans use when they hunt. It's interesting how both human and animal calls are somewhat the same in these examples.
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