RH 103

Rhetoric

The art of discovering all means of persuasion available for any occasion.

Ethos

Credibility or ethical appeal when making an argument.

Audience

The group of people intended to receive the rhetor’s message.

Text

The content of the message being communicated.

Kairos

The opportune moment to act or speak in rhetoric.

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge.

Sophists

Ancient teachers who taught rhetoric for a fee and were often seen as manipulators of the truth.

Socratic Irony

A technique in which one pretends ignorance to stimulate discussion and expose contradictions.

Logos

The logical appeal used in persuasion through reasoning and evidence.

Pathos

Emotional appeal used to persuade an audience through feelings.

Judicial Rhetoric

Rhetoric used in courts of law which looks back on past events.

Legislative Rhetoric

Rhetoric used in assemblies or law-making bodies.

Epideictic Rhetoric

Rhetoric that deals with praise or blame, often used in ceremonies.

Progymnasmata

Preliminary rhetorical exercises that introduce basic rhetorical concepts and strategies.

Doxa

Common beliefs or opinions that can be turned into sound judgment.

Eristic

A type of argument that focuses on contradiction and debate, often for the sake of winning.

Didactic

Intended for teaching, often with moral lessons.

Inventio

The initial stage of creating rhetoric, involving the development of arguments.

Phatic

Statements meant to establish goodwill and rapport, rather than to argue intellectually.

Planned (Working Definitions of Rhetoric)

careful and deliberate design in the use of language and communication
Ex. politician’s speech, polemic, activist group, advocate for money from school board, writers and manifestos, student paper

Dedicated to an audience (Working Definitions of Rhetoric)

oriented towards needs, values, expectations of audience it aims to influence
Ex. politician speaking to members of own party vs. a news network of those opposite of his

Contingent Issues (Working Definitions of Rhetoric)

discusses what should be talked about through how rhetoric focuses and engages an audience

Motives (Working Definitions of Rhetoric)

the purpose of communicating and why it is being delivered at a specific time or place, what influences a writer to write

Seeks affirmation (Working Definitions of Rhetoric)

looking for an audience that will agree

Context

the circumstances and conditions surrounding the communication event, social influences, relevant events or situations, time, place

Rhetor

speaker or writer presenting the message, deliver in way that effectively persuades/informs the audiences

Testing Ground for Ideas (social force)

Argue back and forth in the sense of academia, exchange of views, rhetor needs to be well-informed but so does the audience

Want somebody to question you, willing to disagree with you but anticipate rejections

Devil’s advocate, deliberately takes on role of disagreement

Assist in Advocacy (social force)

Convinces people to get on your side

Ex. trial lawyer, entrepreneurs

Discover facts and to feed truths (social force)

make sure to arrive at an important truth

Shaping of knowledge (social force)

The way you frame things makes a difference in the way you know something

Build community (social force)

Fosters sense of unity among groups of people

Ex. MLK Jr.

Socrates

Taught in socratic style of back and forth questioning and answering rhetoric

Ethics and pursuit of wisdom

Did not write anything as he did not believe in it as he thought it contributed to memory fade

Mostly known through Plato’s dialogue (Xenophon and Aristotle too)

Tried and executed for corrupting youth of Athens

Acted arrogantly and was not liked

Plato

Pupil of Socrates and wrote in dialogue format, used character of Socrates as his own

Not liked by Socrates because he did not like writing

Idealist, “world we experience through our senses is not reality,” form is ideal version of something

The Academy: the school that he began

Generally suspicious of rhetoric but was very good at using it himself

Active writer

More of a sure knowledge episteme guy

Aristotle

Pupil of Plato, taught in his school, conducted own Peripatetic school in Athens

More practical, pragmatic, earthbound compared to Plato

No public role as a rhetorician, no written speeches

All around philosopher, man of science, “academic” thinker

Author of the first extant full-length treatise on rhetoric

Began making Rhetoric as a tutor to Alexander the Great, stopped ~330 BC

Did not agonize over good/bad uses of rhetoric unlike Isocrates and Plato

Defines rhetoric as art of discovering means of persuasion available for any occasion

Did not like sophists because they deceive people

Isocrates

Realizes a lot of life is related to doxa and that episteme is essentially not worth it

Turns opinions from doxa into firmly gotten or well-judged opinions

Distanced himself from Sophistry because of its reputation for persuading rather than exposing the truth

Focuses on real-world issues in philosophy to cultivate judgment

Anyone could be Greek if they adopted Greek values

Suffered dismissal because he wrote speeches instead of speaking

Rhetoric (book)

process of speech composition

Aristotle author

First 2 books focus on rhetor’s attempts to organize what is known and structure, arguments guided by heuristics, common topic (topi), places to look for arguments

Consider audience, cultural predilections/individual emotions, age, social class

Book 3 which argument to make first, gesture, dress, non-verbal means

Invective/diatribe/vituperation

degrades something through speech

Retrickery

manipulation, dishonesty, ways to fool people

Phronesis

practical wisdom

Kairos

doing right thing at any given time

Pedagogy

teaching, not only performed but taught students technique

Progymnasmata

​​handbooks of preliminary rhetorical exercises that introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts and strategies. Also called the gymnasma.

Elenchic

arguing by contradiction, generally good motive, answer legit question

Eristic

stronger, nasty overtones, also means contradicting and gainsaying but only for sake of winning an argument