Classical Rhetoric and Cognition
Literature and Cognition
Classical Rhetoric and Cognition
This four-part video series provides an introduction to traditional concepts of classical rhetoric in light of modern cognitive science.
I: Mnemotechnics
This video explains what kind of mnemotechnic methods the ancient orators used and how modern cognitive science has confirmed their effectiveness. Text version (pdf).
II: Enargeia
This video explains the ancient rhetorical concept of "enargeia" ("vividness") in light of modern cognitive science. Text version (pdf).
III: Irony
This video demonstrates how ancient orators used irony in their speeches and explains what modern cognitive science has to say about the rhetorical effect of irony. Text version (pdf).
IV: History and Oratory
This video shows how the use of speeches in ancient historiography and the use of historical examples in ancient oratory can be better understood by reference to certain cognitive factors. Text version (pdf).
Literature and Cognition
These videos introduce theoretical and practical concepts for understanding how literature and cognition intersect.
Conceptual Metaphors
This video explains how metaphors shape how think, feel and experience the world around us.
Lexical and Phonological Route
This video explains how the brain shifts between reading for letters and reading for sound, and how literary texts can create sounds effects in the head.
Narrative Self-Construction
This video shows how literary narratives both expand and challenge the stories that make up your sense of self.
Material Reading
This video explains how we encounter texts as embodied and embedded artefacts, and how we therefore also read with our bodies. Link to written version (pdf).
Conceptual Blending
This video explains how new meaning arises when we combine different mental spaces through conceptual blending. Link to written version (pdf).
Contributors: Karin Kukkonen (Narrative Self-Construction, Lexical and Phonological Route), Ljiljana Šarić (Conceptual Metaphors, Conceptual Blending), Natalia Igl (Material Reading) and Silvio Bär (Classical Rhetoric and Cognition I-IV). These videos were created in collaboration with LINK.