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This article examines Wayne C. Booths legacy as a teacher and scholar through the concept of rhetoric as mutual inquiry that he develops from Modem Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent (1974) through The Rhetoric of Rhetoric (2004). Booth's work connects the political and pedagogical in pragmatic and productive ways that serve the humanitarian ambition to teach civic literacy while alleviating potential anxieties over politicizing rhetoric and writing classrooms. This article turns on Booth's pivotal question "When should you and I change our minds?" emphasizing that learning how to be persuaded is as important a critical and civic capacity as learning how to persuade. After suggesting limitations with the Aristotelian appeals for persuading oneself, we discuss Booth's definition of rhetoric as "the art of discovering warrantable beliefs and improving those beliefs in shared discourse" and the ways it minimizes logos-centric arguments while emphasizing refreshed approaches to engaging ethos and pathos. Finally, we illustrate a pedagogy that helps students develop ethical trusting and empathetic listening with implications for a rhetorical education and public discourse that are mutually nonviolent and sustainable.
This article examines Wayne C. Booth's legacy as a teacher and scholar through the concept of rhetoric as mutual inquiry that he develops between 1974, in Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent, and The Rhetoric of Rhetoric in 2004.1 As we approach the tenth anniversary of Booth's passing in 2005, his work persists as an insightful guide for connecting the political and pedagogical in pragmatic and productive ways. As we seek to demonstrate, Booth's work lives up to the deep humanitarian ambitions of many composition teachers to promote citizenship while alleviating potential anxieties over politicizing writing classrooms. To be clear, the authors are interested not in teaching any particular political outcome, but rather particular political behaviors. Instead of expecting students to choose among partisan views, we aim to teach them how to engage in transparent, constructive, and nonviolent civil discourse. We further seek teachable moments in which students experience the relevance of civil discourse to their lives and the desire to contribute to it. In short, through Booth's legacy composition teachers can help students decide when and how to change their own minds without telling them what to think.
To illustrate the power...