Between the lines

These articles illustrate how the stases are present in both scientific articles and literary criticism. They also shed light on how an author might address the stases and how this creates and responds to various types of audiences. This article examined the usefulness of identifying the stasis of an argument, and whether it concerns an issue of fact, definition, cause, value, or action. The stasis of an argument still has to be proven or justified. The author must assume the value of addressing a specific audience on a topic in a particular stasis. After the position has been established it is essential to analyze the rhetoric of the disciplines. Arguments in public forums tend to naturally exploit the full stases. Exemplary arguments in representative issues are then analyzed for their stasis and how they justify arguing over the issues they address. On the other hand science articles open questions of fact, classification, and cause. Articles in literary criticism are problematic, they usually concern issues of value that are already granted by their audience. Jeanne Fahnestock and Marie Secor contend that the classical notion of the stases is still relevant to rhetorical argument today. They define the stases and their function in rhetorical analysis and asserting that they are evident in scientific articles and literary criticism. Overall, the authors argue that an analysis of the stases has an important role in the rhetorical analysis of an argument, context, and audience. Essentially, the stasis of an argument is the central question it addresses. Questions of fact, definition, and causes represent the lower stases, while questions of value and action represent the higher stases. Identifying which of the stases an author chooses to address helps one identify the general outline of their argument (429). Killingsworth and Palmer confirmed that media relevance and news interest is based on the audience's knowlede of the subject. It is evident by reading these articles that an author reaches a certain kind of audience depending on which of the stases they choose to explore. If an author stays in the lower stases of fact, definition, and causes, they are likely just trying to present the basics of a topic to an audience that has little prior knowledge of the subject. Regardless, if an author chooses the higher stases of value and action without addressing the lower stases, they will likely assume that their audience already has this basic knowledge. So in-turn they are trying to either push them to some sort of action or the make an evaluative judgment.