Readings by Bitzer, Vatz, Morey, and Edbauer-Rice

Looking at the readings by Bitzer, Vatz, Morey, and Edbauer-Rice, we can see a connection in some way to each other. First, in Bitzer, we are told that the “situation influences the rhetoric” and that “rhetorical situations must exist as a necessary condition of rhetorical discourse,” (Bitzer 5). But when looking at Vatz, he tells us the direct opposite, that “rhetoric influences the situation” (Vatz 159????) and “meaning is not discovered in situation but created by rhetors” (Vatz 157). Basically, Vatz is telling the audience that “rhetors are responsible for what they choose to make salient,” (Vatz 158) instead of merely being a “reflector of reality,” (Vatz 158). As we continue through the readings, we begin to notice an expansion on ideas, where we can see a similarity in ideas between Bitzer and Morey. Morey expands on Bitzer by first, introducing the original rhetorical triangle, which includes rhetor, artifact, and audience (all three of which as seen in Bitzer) and elaborates on this triangle to make it a tetrahedron. In this tetrahedron, he adds design, medium, and genre to...