This dissertation explicates the work of George Jardine, an eighteenth-century Scottish rhetorician, through two lenses--Scottish Enlightenment epistemology and contemporary epistemological writing theories. I use these dual interpretive lenses to create a dialogue between Scottish Enlightenment epistemology, contemporary epistemological writing theories, and Jardine's own ideas. I constructed this dialogue beginning with an examination of Jardine's work, most of which was held in Scotland's National Library and the University of Glasgow's archival library. I then added the lens of Scottish Enlightenment epistemology in order to position Jardine's ideas as contributing to philosophy or theory. Finally, I used the lens of contemporary epistemological writing theories to position Jardine's ideas as being concerned with writing and epistemology, anticipating our own theories. From these two lenses I have shaped Jardine's ideas into what I am labeling investigative rhetoric and epistemic writing theory.Investigative rhetoric is the process of searching for the best truth about a humanist issue and the resulting discourse. The procedure for composing this discourse puts epistemic writing theory into practice and allows writers to construct significant meaning.Epistemic writing theory explains how knowledge is created through writing. This theory is composed of three parts--thinking, motivations, and process, with all three being critical components of the theory and all interrelating. The first part includes the most cognitive aspects of composing knowledge, the second part explains how moral and intellectual commitments motivate knowledge construction, and the third part details the interaction of writing and knowledge production and presents a composing process that utilizes this theory.I conclude with an appeal to apply this rhetoric and theory derived from Jardine's work in our classrooms. If we taught epistemic writing theory as a first year writing curriculum, our students could understand all three aspects of what it means to generate knowledge through composing. Students could apply this theory to their own writing while composing investigative rhetoric, a rhetoric that engages the writer in the process of composing knowledge, motivated by moral and intellectual commitments to fording the best "truth" available. / Department of English
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175111 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Bird, Barbara J. |
| Contributors | Hanson, Linda K. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | v, 268 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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