Shari Stenberg's Rhetoric of Emotion

Feb 17, 2026

Logos + pathos

Stenberg: [In most rhetoric textbooks] emotion is referenced only in terms of pathos, a persuasive appeal to emotion of the listener/reader (35). Even then, emotional appeal is often deemed unsavory and less effective than logos, appeal to logic. Further, pathos is held apart from logos, such that questions of how they function reciprocally, or how emotion is part of knowledge production beyond the composition of arguments, are foreclosed.

Why "emotional intelligence" is problematic?

Stenberg: The movement, then, is not as much about valuing emotion as it is about harnessing particular emotions so as to produce a subject with “capacity for skills and efficiency as well as . . . good character and rule obedience”

The issue is with the end goal. "Emotional Intelligence" does not necessarily value emotion per se; it values emotion as long as it can be harnessed to accomplish productive success. If that end goal is not part of the equation, then emotion is just emotion.

How to teach emotion in classroom?

Stenberg: majority of all classroom instances [Boler] observed approached emotion as separate from social contexts and power relations. When individuals are thought to be equally capable of learning skills to monitor and control their emotions, regardless of social contexts, then individuals can also be blamed for lacking skills to self-regulate or control “impulses.”

How to make emotions integral to learning?

Some key questions to ask about emotions that can help us see a direct link between emotion and knowledge:

• How do expressions of emotion vary according to cultural norms and contexts?
• How can we read emotions as social rather than individual or natural?
• What shapes our understanding of an emotion’s appropriateness or usefulness?

Pedagogy of Discomfort

Stenberg: Boler advocates for a “pedagogy of discomfort,” which views the feelings of unease that arise when what Dewey calls our “habitudes” — deeply ingrained beliefs and values — are called into question, as resources for inquiry. Central to this pedagogy is self-reflexive inquiry into how our emotional investments determine what we choose to see and not see, listen and not listen to, accept or reject. This work requires, then, deliberate attention to how we have developed particular emotional investments over our life histories and how these investments subsequently color the lenses through which we view the world.

"Pedagogy of discomfort" can be a powerful framework. Though it is primarily discussed here as a teaching strategy, it can be a valuable source for anyone. Essentially, "pedagogy of discomfort" is about asking deep, critical, and self-reflective questions about emotion and not be afraid to answer them thoroughly and truthfully.