Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the art of discovering all the available means of persuasion in a given situation.” In this course students look at both theories of persuasion – how people are led to the political conclusions they reach – and the application of those theories to current political debates.
The final exam is a political puzzle based on a local controversy in an imaginary small town to which the student retires after a long and successful career in Washington politics – the exam is legitimately fun.