The study of rhetoric is as old as time itself…well, maybe not that<\/i> old, but it has a long history in Western tradition. Although its study probably came from Africa, Western civilization lays claim to its founding. We normally consider Corax of Sicily to be the “founder” of the study of rhetoric. He and his student Tisias probably wrote the first rhetoric textbooks. Here are some early rhetoric highlights:<\/p>\n The Greeks rhetorical influence is studied to this day. Here are some names you’ve probably heard:<\/p>\n Gorgias (490-385 B.C.E.) Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.) <\/a><\/p>\n Plato**<\/a> (427-347 B.C.E.) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) Now, the above list isn’t exhaustive or representative<\/b>; it’s simply introductory. The Romans borrowed much of the Greeks rhetorical traditions and study, but we won’t get into that in this class. The study of rhetoric and philosophy is quite daunting but highly rewarding. I encourage all of you to delve deeper into rhetoric and philosophy. At a basic level, these fields analyze and contemplate what makes us uniquely human–our ability to think. What else makes us uniquely human? Technology.<\/p>\n Again, the following list isn’t exhaustive, just introductory. The terms below are major terms for rhetoric:<\/p>\n Ethos: the presentation of one’s character (usually to show the speaker\/author is credible)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pathos: appeal to emotions<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Logos: appeal to reason or logic<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Syllogism: an argument consisting of a Major Premise, a Minor Premise, and a Conclusion<\/p>\n All men are mortal; Rhetoric is often associated with oratory, but we study it in writing as well. In fact, Plato didn’t like writing because he felt it would hurt one’s memory. If something was written down, one wouldn’t have to commit the information to memory; therefore, one’s memory would diminish (96).*****<\/a><\/p>\n You’d think that with such a rich history, rhetoric would be introduced to students long before college. Well, it is, but not necessary as a pillar of Western Civilization. The term comes up when politicians or their critics denounce an opponent’s speech as empty; therefore, “rhetoric” is often associated popularly with “empty speech,” non-contributing verbiage, or fluff.<\/p>\n But the study of rhetoric is much more complicated. Just as each discipline has its own epistemology<\/a><\/strong>, each discipline’s communication has a rhetoric. And rhetoric isn’t limited simply to disciplines: Movements, Social Norms, Technology, Science, Religion, etc. have a rhetoric. I often define such analyses into “rhetorics of…” as common factors surrounding the power or belief in a particular area. In other words, beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices are rhetorics of prevailing social ideology: One’s acceptance of cultural “truth” is based largely on one’s immersion into the culture’s myths and beliefs.<\/p>\n Ok, I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t rhetoric just BS…empty political speech? While empty political speech is a definition of rhetoric, it’s too reductive a definition for enlightened college students such as yourselves. Rhetoric is much more involved than the unfortunate popular definition. For this class (and others) you should have a broader view of rhetoric. I like to define rhetoric as “what builds meaning into something.” That something<\/em> can be an object, belief, event, or system, but, whatever it is, meaning is attached personally and culturally.<\/p>\n Take the following words for example: Communism and Feminism. Both have denotations and connotations. The denotative definitions (from the dictionary) are below.<\/p>\n Connotations are the feelings, allusions, and values a group (such as a culture) associates with certain words. Likewise, conscious and unconscious rhetoric describes what gives messages (even visual ones) their meaning–explicitly and implicitly.<\/p>\n Footnotes<\/b><\/p>\n <\/a>* Not to be confused with the Hegelian Dialectic<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n ** Not to be confused with Pluto<\/a> or Pluto<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Some of the More Well-Known Figures in Ancient Rhetoric<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n-Sophist from Sicily who moved to Athens
\n-Established one of the first schools of rhetoric in Athens
\n-Successful rhetoric over moral integrity<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n-‘Founder’ of the study of Philosophy
\n-It’s dialectic,*<\/a> boggie, woggie, woggie: the Socratic Method<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n-Faithful student of Socrates
\n-Founded the Athenian Academy
\n-Rejected relative knowledge and sophistic (as in sophistry<\/i> not sophistication<\/i>) emphasis on form
\n-Aimed for Truth, Justice, and the American…I mean, Athenian Way<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n-Not-so-faithful student of Plato
\n-The great organizer…wasn’t as concerned with moral implications; instead, he was concerned with defining and classifying the parts of rhetoric.
\n–On Rhetoric<\/i>: reason above flashiness and playing with emotions<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n
\n“Let rhetoric be [defined as] an ability, in each [particular] case, to see the available means of persuasion”<\/strong><\/span> (1.2.1).<\/li>\n
\n“[There is persuasion] through character whenever the speech is spoken in such a way as to make the speaker worthy of credence; for we believe fair-minded people to a greater extent and more quickly [than we do others] on all subjects in general and completely so in cases where there is not exact knowledge but room for doubt.” (Aristotle 1.2.4)***<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n
Several Terms to Know<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
\nSocrates is a man;
\nTherefore, Socrates is mortal.****<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWhy the Negative Connotation Associated with Rhetoric<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Language and Hegemony<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
![Pluto<\/a> or](\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Image:Plutodog.gif\"){kind=link}
![Pluto<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n*** Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse<\/span>. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n**** But Socrates has been known to travel through time<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n***** Plato. Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII<\/span>. Trans. Walter Hamilton. London: Penguin, 1973.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where Rhetoric Comes From The study of rhetoric is as old as time itself…well, maybe not that old, but it has a long history in Western tradition. Although its study probably came from Africa, Western civilization lays claim to its founding. We normally consider Corax of Sicily to be the “founder” of the study of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":2019,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-104","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-1G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11765,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions\/11765"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Image:Pluto.jpg\"){kind=link}