Aristotle 's Rhetoric And Rhetoric

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist. He was able to combine the thoughts of Socrates and Plato to create his own ideas and definition of rhetoric. He wrote influential works such as Rhetoric and Organon, which presented these new ideas and theories on rhetoric. Much of what is Western thought today evolved from Aristotle's theories and experiments on rhetoric.

Rhetoric seems like a big word but the meaning is simple- persuasion. In the book Julius Caesar, Antony and Brutus, two major characters, are fantastic at persuading the Roman citizens. When one is reading the story, they might think that both have equal amounts but when you look closer, Antony has the better rhetoric strategies. In just a few short sentences, Antony convinced the people to believe that Caesar needed revenge even though he never came out and told them that. Just a couple of minutes ago, the citizens were on Brutus’s side and thought that Caesar needed to go.

Obviously due to recent public events dealing with our political figures, and things we see on social media, when we hear the word rhetoric we often cringe. Yet there are very few that actually have a true grasp of the words meaning. When we first started the semester we heard rhetoric being described as “mere crookery”. Rhetoric is simply the process of making messages and messages made by that process, and these messages are used to influence social attitudes, the values and even actions of the intended audiences. If we look at it in the same lens of Aristotle, rhetoric is to lead us to the best possible truth.

Rhetoric is the study of how one uses language, any form of literary work, media, and/or pictorial works and determining why, how, and whether or not the work is persuasive. It encompasses the relationship between language and persuasion.

“Rhetoric, which is the use of language to inform or persuade, is very important in shaping public opinion. We are very easily fooled by language and how it is used by others.” Ray Comfort couldn’t have said it better. Rhetoric is a very powerful tool used in the English language. It has the power to conform people’s minds to fit the ideal society or influence their opinions about a certain subject. It is everywhere! It can be found in books, movies, commercials, debates, and speeches just to name a few. In Aristotle’s book, Rhetoric, he mentions all of the analytical strategies that are used when this literary art is practiced. These strategies will be applied to three different works of literature.

Rhetoric- although it may seem to be a word of specific meanings and scholarly uses, the true interpretation can have a vast range of purpose and understanding. Though things as simple as talking to your teacher, watching television, or choosing what outfit to wear in the morning all involve rhetoric, most people believe rhetoric can only be found in the world of politics. Despite government being a prime illustration of rhetoric, it can be go far beyond the deliberations of politicians. An Overview of Rhetoric analyzes various scholarly definitions by explaining, “...rhetoric is simply part of who we are as human beings: Every time we express emotions and thoughts to others with the goal of influence, we are engaged in rhetoric” (6). Keeping this idea in mind, I believe rhetoric is more strictly defined as conversation of persuasive actions that do little to advance a factual concept or idea, but is still valuable in sharing thoughts and viewpoints to incline another. Thus, I view rhetoric as a practice that could possibly result in negative action, but still holds value when attempting to influence the viewpoints of others.

Aristotle’s idea of rhetoric is invention or the faculty of finding the best mean of persuasion in the particular case. Aristotle stated that there are two means of invention one is artistic and the other is nonartistic. The nonartisic form of invention is something that already exists prior to speech; something that can be applied. The artistic form of invention is made up of three proofs which are logos, pathos, and ethos. There are three types of proofs artistically created by a speaker, “those which demonstrated that a thing is so (logos), those which depend for their effectiveness or believability or the speaker (ethos), and those designed to sweat a listener’s feelings (pathos)” (Golden 68). The threefold analysis of invention by Aristotle’s

The term rhetoric came to life around the 8th century when sophist, who were originally poets and teachers began to spreading learning to those ready to pay. As years went by sophist focused more on expressive speech and rhetoric causing people to believe they can answer all questions. As a result, they were given the name “modern thinkers” because they knew everything, so everybody believed what they were saying. Yet Plato came along and said the sophist people were greedy people who decorated language to deceive and gain power(rhetoric). Then came along Aristotle who separated out philosophy, leaving sophism and coming to his own conclusion about rhetoric. “[The function of rhetoric] is not to persuade but to see he available means of persuasion in each case.”

Aristotle defines the word rhetoric as “the available means of persuasion”, that is rhetoric is the art of using language in order to persuade or influence others. Rhetoric exists everywhere within the world: in art, in movies, in books, and in conversation; and so surely rhetoric must be important in some way for it to be used so widely throughout different subject matters. Rhetoric is useful and needed to make any argument strong and valid.

To start with I would start explaining what is rhetoric and how I personally use it in real life. Rhetoric is a form of convincing people though gestures and speaking. Basically, rhetoric used to be used when we need something from another person. For example, this is basically the same what we used to do when we were young. We tried to ask our parents for new toy’s or some candy’s and saying them that for that we going to do everything. According to Kantz, people who are misled by rhetoric are because they misunderstand the difference between opinions and facts (437). So, rhetoric at the time of its origin in ancient times, rhetoric was understood only in the direct meaning of the term - as the art of an orator,

The book introduces the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Rhetoric became more useful and prevalent due to the democratic government in Greece. As a result, public speaking became more popular, and people started to focus on education in rhetoric and studying methods of persuasion. First, Kennedy starts off with artistic rhetoric, in which the speaker uses logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos can be interpreted in terms of Christianity “as given to it by some divine creator” (Kennedy 12). Therefore, the logos is the powerful element that implies logical reasoning and the logic of the universe. Also, the technique of rhetoric became important between a speaker and audiences. Technique of rhetoric can contribute to powerful persuasion. Invention, arrangement, and style became the first three factors of the five factors of the rhetoric. Either the speaker’s speech is artistic or non-artistic, It is important that people focus on the different methods, theory of

Aristotle's method of rhetoric is used on a on a day-to-day basis. As a matter of fact, let's examine the rhetoric, low level rhetoric. The anti-drugs and smoking campaign are an exemplification of low level rhetoric. If someone grew up in America most likely you have seen these four letters D.A.R.E. That is the acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education a part of the program was getting kids not to do drugs. The reasoning behind the campaigns are obvious "Don't do drugs or else you'll end up like this," or "Don't smoke of else you'll get cancer, dead because of it." In other words the main goal is to get the audience to think and provide them with knowledge(cognizance) about drug usage and abuse. Many of the posters or commercials use scare

The art of rhetoric has been present since the beginning of time. The birth of rhetoric is usually attributed to the Greeks as they presented us with ideas and theories about discourse. Famous philosophers such as Plato, the Sophists, and Aristotle presented us with theories that continue to be studied throughout. Most importantly the reason why we still study rhetoric is because rhetoric is everywhere. Our everyday lives are filled with the intensity of rhetoric and what it can do. Thus, rhetoric is the art of words that has the ability to influence, persuade, and create communication and intimacy in societal connections.

After reading the first couple of pages of the RWS 100 Course Reader and They Say/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, I have gathered that rhetoric is a form of writing, thinking, or expressing ones ideas in a way that not only gets your point across, but allows your audience to develop their own ideas. Rhetoric is more like regular everyday conversation as you don't develop your ideas unless it is prompted by someone else; you are simply agreeing , disagreeing , or indifferent with what someone has just said. Rhetoric is different from what we learned in high school, in which we simply developed our own ideas. Rhetoric is used to develop your own ideas, but is sparked by the ideas of someone else. I am excited to learn more

The five canons are extracted from all three books of the rhetoric and include invention,