G. Thomas Goodnight

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G. Thomas Goodnight
Born(1948-12-04)December 4, 1948
Scientific career
Institutions University of Southern California

G. Thomas Goodnight is an American argumentation and rhetorical scholar.

Contents

Early life and education

Goodnight was born in 1948 in Houston, Texas. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Houston, in 1971 and a Master of Arts, in 1974. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, in 1977. [1]

Career

Goodnight is a professor and director of doctoral studies in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He has published essays in Communication Monographs , Communication Theory, Journal of the American Forensic Association, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Argumentation. He has lectured in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, and the Netherlands.

His seminal contribution to the field of argumentation theory lies in his approach to "spheres of argument," an idea that has sparked many scholarly studies. Before joining USC full-time in 2004, Goodnight taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Northwestern University's Communication Studies department in contemporary rhetorical theory, criticism, theory of argumentation, and the public sphere. His current research interests include deliberation and postwar society, science communication, argument and aesthetics, public discourse studies, and communicative reason in controversy.

Goodnight has been named by the American Forensics Association as one of the top 5 scholars in argumentation in the twentieth century. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhetoric</span> Art of discourse

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic, is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion" and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he calls it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Rhetoric typically provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations, such as Aristotle's three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric or phases of developing a persuasive speech were first codified in classical Rome: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public sphere</span> Area in social life

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. A "Public" is "of or concerning the people as a whole." Public Sphere is a place common to all, where ideas and information can be exchanged. Such a discussion is called public debate and is defined as the expression of views on matters that are of concern to the public—often, but not always, with opposing or diverging views being expressed by participants in the discussion. Public debate takes place mostly through the mass media, but also at meetings or through social media, academic publications and government policy documents. The term was originally coined by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas who defined the public sphere as "made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the needs of society with the state". Communication scholar Gerard A. Hauser defines it as "a discursive space in which individuals and groups associate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment about them". The public sphere can be seen as "a theater in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk" and "a realm of social life in which public opinion can be formed".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argumentation theory</span> Study of how conclusions are reached through logical reasoning; one of four rhetorical modes

Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, includes the arts and sciences of civil debate, dialogue, conversation, and persuasion. It studies rules of inference, logic, and procedural rules in both artificial and real-world settings.

Rhetoric of science is a body of scholarly literature exploring the notion that the practice of science is a rhetorical activity. It emerged following a number of similarly-oriented disciplines during the late 20th century, including the disciplines of sociology of scientific knowledge, history of science, and philosophy of science, but it is practiced most fully by rhetoricians in departments of English, speech, and communication.

Robert L. Scott was an American scholar influential in the study of rhetorical theory, criticism of public address, debate, and communication research and practice. He was professor emeritus in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of five books, numerous articles in speech, communications, philosophy, and rhetoric journals, and contributed many book chapters. His article "On Viewing Rhetoric As Epistemic", is considered one of the most important academic articles written in rhetorical studies in the past century.

Charles Arthur Willard is an American argumentation and rhetorical theorist. He is a retired Professor and University Scholar at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Robin Rowland is an American argumentation and rhetorical scholar. He is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas. He has published in Communication Monographs, Journal of the American Forensic Association, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Argumentation.

Dale Hample is an American argumentation and rhetorical scholar, associate professor at the University of Maryland. He has published many peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and written one book and edited another.

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Curtis Scott Jacobs, , is an American argumentation, communication, and rhetorical scholar.

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John Louis Lucaites is an American academic. He is a professor emeritus of rhetoric and public culture at Indiana University. In 2012, Lucaites was appointed as associate dean for arts and humanities and undergraduate education at Indiana University. His research concerns the general relationship between rhetoric and social theory, and seeks to contribute in particular to the critique and reconstruction of liberalism in contemporary social, political, and cultural practices in the United States.

James A. Herrick is an American academic. He is the Guy Vanderjagt Professor of Communication and former communication chair at Hope College.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Schiappa</span>

Anthony Edward Schiappa, Jr. is an American scholar of communication and rhetoric, currently Professor of Comparative Media Studies/Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he holds the John E. Burchard Chair of Humanities; from 2013 to 2019, he also served as the program's Head. Previously, he spent seventeen years in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, the last seven of which he served as chair. He is the author of eight books and numerous articles that have appeared in classics, communication, English/Composition, philosophy, psychology, and law journals.

Susan Zaeske is Professor of Rhetoric and Public Culture in the Department of Communication Arts and Arts and Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities in the College of Letters & Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gerard Alan Hauser is an author and academic, and professor emeritus of communication and college professor emeritus of distinction in rhetoric at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on the interaction between formal and vernacular rhetorics in the public sphere. He has authored several books and numerous articles on the subject, and his writings have helped shaped the field of modern rhetoric.

Sonja K. Foss is a rhetorical scholar and educator in the discipline of communication. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory and practice, and visual rhetoric.

Dominic A. Infante was a communication scholar, professor, and author. In addition to shorter teaching terms at other universities, he served as a professor in The School of Communication Studies at Kent State University for 19 years. Widely known for his research on communication theory and verbal aggressiveness, he was revered as a prolific scholar in the field of communication studies and made a great impact on many of his students and colleagues.

References

  1. Curriculum Vitae. USC Academia. Retrieved February 23, 2020
  2. Peterson's graduate programs in the humanities, arts, & social sciences, 2006, p. 922