WRITING AND DIALOGUE: PLATO TO PODCASTS

Catalog description

From podcasts to television to fiction, the art of discussion is on the rise in popular media. Sometimes called “dialectic,” “discourse,” or simply “conversation,” this course focuses on the use of dialogue for making arguments and exploring complicated ideas. The first part of this class establishes a theoretical context based on ancient and medieval sources (like Plato and Boethius) concerning the practice of dialectic. After students become comfortable with the theory, the class will then employ this the ory in practical and contemporary application including writing fictional dialogue, preparing for live interviews, and producing conversational (and potentially controversial) podcasts. Ultimately, students will learn how to put rhetoric itself in dialogue with poetics, literature, and philosophy for the benefit of popular audiences.