Rhetoric
- Rhetoric is a the art of persuasive speaking or writing.
- It explores figures of speech and compositional techniques.
- Effective use of language, arguments and support to inform, motivate and persuade an audience.
Sophists
- The sophists were paid teachers in Ancient Greece that taught persuasive speaking. Some of their critics argue that they teach how to speak eloquently, but lacking substance.
- There are many well known Sophists, but some of the most famous are Protagoras, Isocrates, Gorgias.
- They believe that truth is a construct (a notion or an idea).
- Rhetoric can therefore be used to win any argument.
- Speakers can develop ethos, pathos and a speech structure to win arguments.
Philosophers
- The opposite of sophists were the Philosophers of Ancient Greece, who were focused mainly on logic.
- The famous philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Cicero opposed the idea of sophists.
- They provided more depth and systematic thinking to the art of persuasive speaking.
Aristotle
- Most prominently of the 3 famous philosophers, Aristotle believed that logos was most important in persuasion.
- In comparison to style, Aristotle believed that substance is the key to winning arguments, as any intelligent person should be convinced by logic and data that supports an argument.
He states that:
- Citizens should engage in logical arguments to learn and improve.
- Citizens should only use persuasive techniques when their audience is stupid.
- Arguments should be factually correct and delivered in an appropriate tone.
Ideas of Rhetoricians
- Rhetoric formed from the argumentation and communication of philosophers and sophists.
- Building off of each others ideas, both the appeal to emotion and status (pathos and ethos) and rigorous logical argumentation were combined into modern rhetoric.
- As rhetoric was concieved alongside the rise of democracies, the art of persuasive speech and presentation became more powerful than armies.
- Nowadays rhetoric is used in many fields, such as law, politics, advertising, etc.