Hillsdale College Launches New Online Course ‘Classical Logic and Rhetoric’
The course helps students hone the arts of thinking and speaking clearly.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College is releasing a new online course, “Classical Logic and Rhetoric,” March 9-20. Based on the core course every Hillsdale College student must take, this online course helps students hone the arts of thinking and speaking clearly.
“Human beings are unique among the animals in our ability to think and speak, and whenever we do those things, we engage in logic and rhetoric,” said Jeremiah Regan, executive director of online learning. “This course will help students think clearly and communicate effectively so they can better learn the truth for themselves and persuade others of it.”
“This course will help students think clearly and communicate effectively so they can better learn the truth for themselves and persuade others of it.”
In the logic portion of the course, students learn how to form definitions and statements to articulate what they observe and what it means to make arguments that are both valid in their structure and true in their content. The rhetoric portion of the course covers the process of persuasion, from coming up with arguments, to arrangement and style, to memory and delivery.
The course is taught by Benjamin Beier, chairman and associate professor of education, who helped initiate Hillsdale’s core class in logic and rhetoric. The course draws on the examples of famous rhetoricians ranging from Socrates and Cicero to Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill.
“Logic is the art and science of giving reasons; rhetoric is the art of persuasive communication,” Beier said. “We study logic and rhetoric together, one to develop arguments and the other to fit those arguments to situations and audiences.”
“We study logic and rhetoric together, one to develop arguments and the other to fit those arguments to situations and audiences.”
The course consists of an introduction by Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn followed by five lectures on logic and five on rhetoric:
- Categories and Predicables
- Definitions
- Statements
- Argument Validity
- Argument Soundness
- The Precepts of Rhetoric
- Invention
- Arrangement
- Style
- Memory and Delivery
- Watch the trailer and register for the course
- Photos from the course
- Photos of Hillsdale College
- High-resolution copy of the Hillsdale College clocktower logo
About Hillsdale College Online Courses
Hillsdale College’s free, not-for-credit online courses feature lectures from the College’s faculty members across various disciplines, including politics, history, economics, religion, and literature. More than 5 million students have enrolled in an online course with Hillsdale College. For more information on Hillsdale College’s online courses, visit online.hillsdale.edu.