Rhetoric Classical Modern
Rhetoric, in its broadest sense, the theory and practice of eloquence, whether spoken or written. Spoken rhetoric is oratory. Rhetoric defines the rules that should govern all prose composition or speech designed to influence the judgment or the feelings of people. It therefore treats of all matters relating to beauty or forcefulness of style. In a narrower sense, rhetoric is concerned with a consideration of the fundamental principles according to which oratorical discourses are composed: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. This article deals primarily with the theory of rhetoric. The paper defines the concept of rhetoric as a strategy through which exploration of concepts can be achieved. The paper explores classic and modern rhetoric in order to achieve an understanding of rhetoric and its purpose. The paper outlines the transformations in the perception and use of rhetoric and shows how this tool of communication now helps to expand thought instead of being used specifically to convince others.
Classical and Modern Rhetoric
The eloquence that Nestor, Odysseus, and Achilles display in the Iliad by the Greek poet Homer led many Greeks to look upon Homer as the father of oratory. The establishment of democratic institutions in Athens in 510 BC imposed on all citizens the necessity of public service, making skill in oratory essential. Hence a group of teachers arose known as Sophists, who endeavored to make men better speakers by rules of art. Protagoras, the first of the Sophists, made a study of language and taught his pupils how to make the weaker cause in a speech or discussion appears the stronger argument. The actual founder of rhetoric as a science is said to be Corax of Syracuse, who in the 5th century BC defined rhetoric as the “artificer of persuasion” and composed the first handbook on the art of rhetoric. Other masters of rhetoric during this period included Corax's pupil Tisias, also of Syracuse; Gorgias of Leontini, who went to Athens in 427 BC; and Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, who also taught at Athens. (Edward P. J, 1998)
Antiphon, the first of the so-called Ten Attic Orators, was also the first to combine the theory and practice of rhetoric. With Isocrates, the great teacher of oratory in the 4th century BC, the art of rhetoric was broadened to become a cultural study, a philosophy with a practical purpose. The Greek philosopher Plato satirized the more technical approach to rhetoric, with its emphasis on persuasion rather than truth, in his work Gorgias, and in the Phaedrus he discussed the principles constituting the essence of the rhetorical art.
The ancient wisdom of Plato, Gorgias and Aristotle each gave a different perception of rhetoric and its usage. Plato is perhaps the most well known philosopher in relation to rhetoric because he so adamantly opposed rhetoric as a techne, and reasoned that the Sophists who practiced and taught rhetoric were responsible for the death of his mentor and friend Socrates. Plato believed that rhetoric was the deceitful use of words in order to gain a truth. He believed that truth and justice is based on facts and not on a person's ability to manipulate public opinion (doxa) with words. (Aristotle, W. Rhys Roberts, 2004)
Plato recognized the dangers and advantages the use of rhetoric would have on society, yet he never identified the fact that he utilized it in most of his speeches, writings and teachings. Gorgias of Leontini was one of the most significant teachers and practitioners of rhetoric. He amassed quite a fortune of wealth through teaching rhetoric and delivering public speeches. He emphasized the use of persuasive language to argue both sides of an argument. Gorgias was not concerned with the truth but in the ability of playing on the emotions of an audience in order to convince them of a truth. He believed that words could be used to captivate an audience by arousing emotions such as fear, pity an longing.(Robert J. Connors, 1984)
Gorgias teachings and beliefs on rhetoric contributed to a new approach to education and stimulated the minds of men to think beyond the beliefs of a traditional society.
Aristotle upheld the belief that rhetoric was a techne used to make convincing and persuasive arguments. He believes an equal combination of the artistic proofs (logos, pathos, and ethos) were required skills essential to the teachings of rhetoric.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his work Rhetoric, defined the function of rhetoric as being, not that of persuasion, but rather that of “discovering all the available means of persuasion,” thereby emphasizing the winning of an argument by persuasive marshaling of truth, rather than the swaying of an audience by an appeal to their emotions. He regarded rhetoric as the counterpart, or sister art, of logic. The instructors in formal rhetoric in Rome were at first Greek, and the great masters of theoretical and practical rhetoric, Cicero and Quintilian, were both influenced by Greek models.
Aristotle recognized the value of rhetoric and the manner it could be directed to a specific audience. He perceived it as a form of speaking to an audience comprised of ordinary citizens and the idea that it makes use of a common idea or belief shared by the speaker and the audience (enthymeme). He believed that rhetoric was a techne and identified the need to understand characteristics of human emotions and the elements of an argument in order to speak with authority on any given subject. He identified the integrity and believability of a speaker as the key ingredient. (Aristotle, W. Rhys Roberts, 2004)
Cicero wrote several treatises on the theory and practice of rhetoric, the most important being On the Orator (55 BC); Quintilian's famous Institutio Oratoria (ad95? The Training of an Orator, 1921-1922) still retains its value as a thorough treatment of the principles of rhetoric and the nature of ideal eloquence. School exercises, called declamations, of the early empire are found in the existing suasoriae and controversiae of the rhetorician Seneca, the former term referring to exercises in deliberative rhetoric, the latter term referring to exercises dealing with legal issues and presenting forensic rhetoric. During the first four centuries of the Roman Empire, rhetoric continued to be taught by teachers who were called Sophists, the term by this time used as an academic title.
At the twist of the twentieth century, there was a recovery of rhetorical study evident in the establishment of departments of rhetoric and speech at educational institutions, as well as the formation of national and international professional organizations. Theorists normally agree that a significant cause for the resurgence of the study of rhetoric was the renewed importance of language and influence in the increasingly mediated environment of the twentieth century (see Linguistic turn). The increase of advertising and of mass media such as photography, telegraphy, radio, and film brought rhetoric more prominently into people's lives.
Suppose that when McLuhan was working on his 1943 Cambridge University doctoral dissertation on the oral arts and Nashe, mentioned above, he was also preparing the materials that were finally published as the book The Mechanical Bride: The Folklore of Industrial Man (Vanguard Press, 1951). This book is a collection of exhibits of ads and other resources from popular culture with short essays about them by McLuhan. The essays involve rhetorical analyses of the ways in which the material in an item aims to persuade and comment on the persuasive strategies in each item.
Modern and classical rhetoric is directly attached to modern language theory and philosophy; some North American scholars have found motivation in post-structuralism French philosopher like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Francois Lyotard. All that can be safely said, as a start and in strict relation to rhetoric, is the following: Derrida wrote on voice; Foucault was aware of Stoic rhetoric; Lyotard had a post-Heideggerian concept of rhetoric as being-in-the-world. Rhetoric was part of the curriculum in Jesuit and, to a lesser extent, Oratorian colleges until the French Revolution. For Jesuits, right from the foundation, in France, of the Society, rhetoric was an integral part of the training of young men toward taking up leadership positions in the Church and in State institutions, as Marc Fumaroli has shown it in his foundational Age de l'éloquence (1980). The Oratorians, by contrast, reserved it a lesser place, in part due to the stress they placed on modern languages acquisition and a more sensualist philosophy (Bernard Lamy's Rhetoric is an excellent example of their approach).Nonetheless, in the 18th Century, rhetoric was the armature and crowning of college education, with works such as Rollin's Treatise of Studies achieving a wide and enduring fame across the Continent.
The French Revolution, although, curved this around. Thinkers like Condorcet, who outlined the French revolutionary chart for a people's education under the rule of reason, discharge rhetoric as a gadget of domination in the hands of clerics in particular. The Revolution went as far as restraining the Bar, arguing that forensic rhetoric did disservice to a rational system of justice, by allowing fallacies and emotions to come into play. Nevertheless, as later historians of the 19th century were keen to explain, the Revolution was a high moment of eloquence and rhetorical prowess, yet, against a background of rejection of rhetoric. (John Smith, 2005)
I believe rhetoric to be effectively using communications, not limited to verbal skills, to persuade or influence the choices, ideas, and actions of other individuals. It is a valuable skill that is used every day whether we are aware of its usage or identify it as such and has become a common aspect to communications. Rhetoric is employed by different religious groups to convince people that their specific way of worship is the right way and prayers will be answered by worshipping with them. It is a great marketing tool for almost every conceivable business that has a product to sale; buy our pill and lose 100 pounds without every dieting or exercising; buy our car; it gets 45 MPG and it will run forever. We use it to manipulate our children into doing or not doing a particular thing. Politicians make great use of rhetoric through verbal and written campaign platforms, all in an effort to convince you to vote in their favor. No matter who is making use of rhetoric, it is being utilized with one particular objective in mind and that is to persuade and convince a targeted audience of a specific goal.
References
Edward P. J. Corbett, Robert J. Connors. (1998). Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Period. New York: Oxford University Press.
Robert J. Connors. (1984). Essays on Classical Rhetoric and Modern Discourse. New York: Southern Illinois University.
John Smith. (2005). Advances in the History of Rhetoric. New York: Wiley Publishers.
Aristotle. (1984). The Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Aristotle, W. Rhys Roberts. (2004). Rhetoric. New York: Dover Publications.
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