Hawhee Agonism & Arete notes

Hawhee, Debra
Agonism and Arete
Philosophy and Rhetoric, VOl. 35, No. 3 2002 185-207
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

185
“…[A]thletics made available an agonistic model for early rhetors to follow as they
developed their art” .

Athlios was a struggle for a prize

Agon is a gathering or assembly—the emphasis is upon the encounter as opposed
to the division or the prize

(Hawhee 186)
“So the word agon suggests movement through struggle, a productive
training practice wherein subjective production takes place through the
encounter itself” (Hawhee Agone 186).
The emphasis here is on the encounter, the process, and not the result. The
skill necessary for this require kairotic ability to adapt to each individual and unique
situation—it is not a set of rote skills.

“Taking seriously rhetoric’s emergence in the context of the agon requires

a reconfiguration of rhetoric as an agonistic encounter. That is, for the
sophists at least, agonism produces rhetoric as a gathering of forces—
cultural, bodily, and discursive, thus problematizing the easy portrayal of
rhetoric as telos-driven persuasion or as a means to reach consensus. As
a result, the sophistic rhetorical exemplar was the athlete in action”
(Hawhee Agone 186).

Telos: the end of a goal-oriented effort

The emphasis is upon engagement and the very nature of the process of
engagement is that it generates change in and of itself.
See if this links into the Burke and Dewey article/ assertions
By engaging in discourse as a public the public can change itself.

187
Arete at the heart of agon
Arete linked closely to good, glory honor and love of honor

Arete required outside reception and acknowledgement

“In other words, one cannot just be virtuous, one must become virtuosity by
performing and hence embodying virtuous actions in public…Arete was thus not a
telos, but rather a constant call to action that produced particular habits. As a
repeated/repeatable style of living, arête was therefore a performative, bodily
phenomenon, depending on visibility—on making manifest qualities associated with
 Hawhee Agonism & Arete notes

virtuosity. As such, it was produced through observation, imitation, and learning”

(Hawhee Agonism 187).

187-188
My speculation: If arête was external and it depended upon outside forces, then it
was an economics of attention. Just like people are trying to get hits on their sites
or viewers for their videos, the Greeks were attempting to build up credibility, fame,
and popularity in their community by engaging in certain kinds of actions.
This links to media, attention, and Lanham’s text.

192
“What matters for arête, then, is not the victory per se but rather the hunt for the
victory” (Hawhee Agonism 192). Italics hers.

193
Agones gave the chance for men to show the effects of their questing

194
“In other words, agonism denotes an encounter, the production of a response, and a
subsequent change in both substances” (Hawhee Agonism 194).
You could see this in the classroom, with students, presentations at
conferences, an d in a gazillion other academic examples

199-201
Wrestling and rhetoric

201
Discussion of how sophists forced a confrontation between old and new modes of
education
Aristophanes clouds showcased the confrontation

202
Polarities (just like Lanham) between old school—good old days, customs and civic
good, discipline and self-control—and new school sophists

Old school associated with custom; new school associated with nature

Much like the encounter between the industrial-ag custom of institutionalized

schooling and the newer modes of communication, attention, and commere

203
In Clouds, it is not the victory that matters; instead, it is the agon itself—the
encounter which matters

It is the agon which brings the two training styles, the two modes of education
together (203 Hawhee Agonism).
It is the shared node
 Hawhee Agonism & Arete notes

205
What both styles/schools have in common is the agon, the competition in training
The very struggle that forms and shapes the situation
“As this analysis suggests, arête was a matter of actions and could only be
demonstrated repeatedly (not won)” (Hawhee Agonism 205).

Very clear links between the Lanham oscillation, the movement between—instead,
it is the endless tension and struggle between the two poles
The presence of the tension is often what matters.