Purely Hypothetical

Let's imagine that you had an argument with someone. Your mother, perhaps, who is a little bit misunderstood and a little bit opposite of you in political views. Yet, you love her the normal amount, or maybe not at all. Hey, I won't judge. 

In any case, it's the day after, and you're in the shower. Then, right as you're getting your shampoo ready, bam! "That's what I should have said. It would have been perfect!" is your thought. Not that it matters what you could or should have said, because the opportunity has long since passed. This is a hypothetical situation (a "what-if") we've imagined together. Not the same thing as a rhetorical situation, but of the same concept.

The point is in thinking not just about the conversation, but about the potential and the environment. To explain, we must think specifically about that "what-if", but also about the "when", the "where", and I'm sure you know the rest. The environment in which certain situations have different meanings depends on the context at the moment. Bitzer notes this before even starting. For example, embarrassing situations involve stimuli that foster a sense of embarrassment, and the same idea applies to all other situations of all varieties. 

Needless to say, though, that this is at differing degrees of specificity depending on the situation's descriptor. A hypothetical situation is based on hypothesis. It can be broad or narrow in scope, and it is fundamentally a situation of "what-if". In other words, it never happened, it might have happened, or it might eventually occur. 

A rhetorical situation would operate under a similar principle. It is based on rhetoric, so clearly a situation of persuasion or reaction is at hand. What is the context necessary for this, however? Language meant to persuade, outrageous claims to stoke flames in the audience, sentences and statements that answer themselves. These are all potential factors in a situation focused on rhetoric. 

However, there are also factors that may lead to their own non-rhetorical situations. A persuasive situation is an example, as Bitzer notes. One key, then, is to imagine the context in which a rhetorical situation comes about. Then again, is that imagined context helpful for recognizing a rhetorical situation, or indeed have we circled back into the purely hypothetical?

In terms of public writing, it's clear that these ideas and questions are important. What exactly are we writing for, and under what specific role or situation does our work fall under? Further, who, what, and how are we addressing such topics and ideas? It's crucial to recognize the context, whether rhetorical, hypothetical, neither at all, or something in between the lot of them. 

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Bitzer, Lloyd. "The Rhetorical Situation." https://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733