Lefevre Platonic Inv Notes

Lefevre Platonic Invention Notes: Feb 2009 LeFevre, Karen Burke Invention as a Social Act Southern Illinois University Press Carbondale, 1987 Conference on College Composition and Communication

Chapter 2: A Platonic View of Rhetorical Invention 10-11 Platonic view of individual in pursuit of truth 11 Comp/rhetorical invention founded on view that an individual can locate truth “Invention, according to this view, occurs largely thorugh introspective selfexamination.” Through self-examination, we find the structures within ourselves (cough cough). “Thus, inviduals come to know not by creating something new but by recollecting.”

12 Thus invention is a private activity; it is the individual’s discovery of their own feelings and reality 12 “Here I am speaking, however, not only of what Plato said, but of what has been made of what Plato said. The persisting emphasis in Western thought on the concept ofindividual apprehension of truth—a conceppt traditionally credited to Plato—may be to a large degree responsible for a longstanding view of invention as radically individualistic.” 12-13 individualistic nature of comp assignments, grades essays; built on the assumption of individual development 14 invention as individualistic: various theories presented Writer moves from within themselves out to the rest of the world 15 Reasons why comp favors individualist view/Platonic view of invention 16-17 influence of literary studies; New Criticism; regarding writing without actual context

Lefevre Platonic Invention Notes: Feb 2009 17-18 Romantic tradition: inspired writer; emphasis on the individual and internal inspiration 19 Capitlaism, Individualism, and Invention: culture and lifestyles based upon the individuals accomplishing goals in contrast to Medieval notions of authorship (i.e. not) 20 printing helped literacy and potential the social nature of invention, however it also helped to concretize authorship and gave a way of ascribing ownership/control of a text to a specific individual 21 we tend to give credit to one person, normally a man, for discovering an idea instead of noting all the different people who were involved in the process and laid the foundations for all of the work, learning, research, etc., upon which the perosn finally made their discovery 22 key summary paragraph at the end of this page: In short, platonic view fits well with western, capitalist, invidualistic thought and therefore comp often keeps the individual as the unit of focus or study

22- Strengths & Weakness of Platonic view 23 places emphasis of research and writing on individuals, not contexts or groups. 23-24 Cites Bizzell’s notions of inner directed and outer directed writing/purposes Social writing/invention is more akin to outer directed writing 24 “Platonic invention is a closed, one-way system.” 25 “A Platonic view abstracts the writer from society.” 26 “A Platonic view assumes and promotes the concept of the atomistic self as inventor.” 29 “A Platonic view fails to acknowledge that invention is collaborative.”

30-31 traditional overlooking or ignoring of female contributions to the writing/invention process 32 discussion of how Platonic view may result in antagonism between English and other departments

Lefevre Platonic Invention Notes: Feb 2009 Other genres assume English faculty seek to have students “express themselves” while many instructors have different ideas Over simplified dichotomy of expressive vs. communicative writing 32 conclusion: Platonic view valuable because it recognizes role of invention as an integral part of writing and influenced writers to see that they have internal resources It limits understanding by seeing invention as a closed system, abstracted form society, and it ignores the collaborative process