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Writing: Friend or Foe?

Writing: Friend or Foe?. Advanced Rhetorical Writing Matt Barton. The Invention of Writing. How are writing and speaking related? Is writing a “reflection” or “reminder” of what was originally spoken discourse? Can writing truly teach you something that you didn’t already know?

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Writing: Friend or Foe?

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  1. Writing: Friend or Foe? Advanced Rhetorical Writing Matt Barton

  2. The Invention of Writing • How are writing and speaking related? • Is writing a “reflection” or “reminder” of what was originally spoken discourse? • Can writing truly teach you something that you didn’t already know? • How does writing affect memory? • Does it help you remember things that you might forget it you didn’t write down? • Does it help you forget things by encouraging you not to exercise your memory?

  3. Theuth Myth • The Egyptian inventor Theuth offers the invention of writing to the god Thamus, claiming that it will • “will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that I have discovered.” • Thamus responds: • “This will invention will produce forgetfulness…You offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom but not true wisdom.”

  4. Writing vs. Speaking • We can easily read and memorize texts that we don’t understand at all: • Space is not a conception which has been derived from outward experiences • From Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason • A global analysis of the solar neutrino data from all solar neutrino experiments combined with the KamLAND data is presented assuming that the solar neutrino deficit is due to the matter-enhanced spin-flavour precession effect. • Nuclear physics journal

  5. Writing can’t Talk Back • Writing is like the people in a painting—they can’t talk back, answer questions, and clarify points like a speaker could. • Writing is “dead,” whereas speech is “living.” • Writing “needs its father to help it; for it has no power to protect or help itself.”

  6. Writing as a Playful Reminder • Writing is only good if it serves a “treasure of reminders” of one’s past memories. • “The garden of letters he will plant for amusement.” • Written texts shouldn’t be taken seriously.

  7. The Serious Pursuit • If a writer has written with knowledge of the truth, • And is able to support his points with actual discussion, • And can prove via speech that the written words are worth very little… • We ought to respect such a person not for his writings, but rather the expertise and hard work required to make them.

  8. Images of the Truth • Spoken words are one step removed from the truth; • Written words are one step removed from speech; • A poor understanding based on readings is one step further removed! • In other words, it’s like making a copy of a copy of a copy…

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