The Folletian Notes
I chuckle even as I post this. This is extremely self-indulgent, and very risky. Academics do not
normally give the public access to their earliest works, let alone to lecture notes. However, I hope these notes will unlock some facet of rhetoric for you. I hope that the fact that I recorded them when I was a new
undergrad will render them more accessible than a scholarly essay on rhetoric. I hope they assist you in your pedagogical efforts.
I had a very good mentor. Dr. Charles Follette is a stalwart Missouri-Synod Lutheran, an Aristotelian scholar and the best damn debate coach around. When I studied under him, in the early 1980s, he was finishing up his doctoral dissertation, A Weaverian Interpretation of Richard Weaver. I, on the other hand, was just trying to rebound from the 70s! Not only did I learn a great deal about Weaver, I learned how to think quickly on my feet, how to argue a bit, and, most of all, I developed a lifelong interest in rhetoric. I appreciated so much the things Charles taught me that, a few years back, I word processed every note I ever took in his class. Here are links to three of those documents. . . . for whatever they’re worth.