Friday, April 21, 2006

Final Oral Presentations!


Please email me back with your preference on giving your final oral presentation: Next Thursday (the last day of class) or Tuesday of finals week from 10:15-12:15.

The requirements for the second oral presentation are the same as the first. You need a model or theory, you need an artifact. The artifact has to be related to legal communication. You need to use the model or theory to teach us something about the success or failure of the artifact. Bonus if you also use the artifact to teach us something about the usefulness of the model or theory. Finally, you should tell us what future research may be desirable based on your own conclusions.

stannard

Friday, April 07, 2006

Abortion Rhetoric

Remember that the main purpose of this unit is not to elicit people's personal or political opinions about abortion (although those are important), but instead to pay attention to the way various sides in the abortion debate construct their arguments, and frame their metaphysics of life.

For next Thursday, write your response papers on one of the following questions:

1. Identify one or more similarities between contemporary pro-life rhetoric and the rhetoric of the Abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement of the 19th century.

2. Following Habermas, who are the affected participants in the abortion debate? How can the debate be framed to reflect the views of all involved?

3. Trace the rhetorical construction of "privacy" in Roe v. Wade and subsequent court decisions.

4. What would be a morally consistent pro-life rhetoric?

All of these responses are going to require considerable outside research and the citation of sources--not merely your own speculation and opinion.

Finally, because some people in the class seem interested in this issue, here are some links to pro-life feminism resources:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_cult/courses/knowbody/f04/web2/cpomeroy.html

http://www.fnsa.org/

http://www.feministsforlife.org/FAQ/index.htm