Timeline
- 800 B.C.E. = Homeric epics, oral culture
- 511 B.C.E. = Athens and democracy
- 480-404 B.C.E. = Athenian ascendancy
- 467 B.C.E. = Corax begins his career
- Sophists such as Empedocles (b. 493), Protagoras (b. 485), and Gorgias (b. 485)
- 436-338 B.C.E. = Isocrates
- 420-348 B.C.E. = Plato
- 384-322 B.C.E. = Aristotle
Why?
The need for rhetoric (the art of persuasion) coincided with the birth of democracy in Athens, Greece. Rhetoric grew out of the need for people to represent themselves in court. Corax established the first schools to teach Greeks the principles of rhetoric to help them argue over land. Greece, at that time, was not uniform; rather, it consisted of war-like city-states. It was important that men argue successfully in court to keep or to gain land after the overthrow of an emperor.
Early Rhetoricians
Sophists were rhetoricians who wandered throughout Greece, teaching citizens for a fee. Their definition of rhetoric was the use of everyday language in a critical or persuasive way. Thus, the Sophists viewed rhetoric as a theoretical enterprise and a political exercise. Isocrates was the most influential Sophist. After he opened a school of rhetoric, he became Plato's primary competitor.
Greek Philosophers
Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle, through their writings, debated the nature of rhetoric--specifically, the subjects of rhetoric, the effects of rhetoric, and the media of rhetoric. In Antidosis
Isocrates argues against Plato's accusation that rhetoric is unpatriotic. According to Plato, through Socrates, rhetoricians produce beliefs, not truths. Rhetoricians are simply flatterers, using language to make things seem good and to manipulate people. Plato's student, Aristotle, analyzed, critiqued and expanded his professor's philosophy. Aristotle realized that writing and speaking have multiple purposes, some good and some bad. In Rhetoric, Book I
, Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion."1 In other words, either the identification of persuasive techniques or the practice of persuasion or both is the goal of a rhetorician.
Aristotle's treatise is the basis of contemporary rhetoric. However, numerous twentieth-century practitioners have expanded his definition. Sharon Crowley views rhetoric as a way to arrive at mutual understanding. Kenneth Burke thinks that rhetoric includes any kind of means (signs, symbols, language) to persuasion, and Barry Brummett views rhetoric as the use of cultural signs, symbols and words to convey preferential meanings to a group.
The Rhetorical Triangle
All rhetoricians agree that a writer's or speaker's ability to persuade depends on how well he/she appeals to his/her audience in three areas: logos (appeal to reason), pathos (appeal to emotion), and ethos (appeal to character). According to Aristotle in Rhetoric, Book I, "Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [(ethos)]; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [(pathos)]; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [(logos)]."2 The three modes form what we now call the Rhetorical Triangle. Imagine there is an equilateral triangle below.
The need for rhetoric (the art of persuasion) coincided with the birth of democracy in Athens, Greece. Rhetoric grew out of the need for people to represent themselves in court. Corax established the first schools to teach Greeks the principles of rhetoric to help them argue over land. Greece, at that time, was not uniform; rather, it consisted of war-like city-states. It was important that men argue successfully in court to keep or to gain land after the overthrow of an emperor.
Early Rhetoricians
Sophists were rhetoricians who wandered throughout Greece, teaching citizens for a fee. Their definition of rhetoric was the use of everyday language in a critical or persuasive way. Thus, the Sophists viewed rhetoric as a theoretical enterprise and a political exercise. Isocrates was the most influential Sophist. After he opened a school of rhetoric, he became Plato's primary competitor.
Greek Philosophers
Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle, through their writings, debated the nature of rhetoric--specifically, the subjects of rhetoric, the effects of rhetoric, and the media of rhetoric. In Antidosis
Isocrates argues against Plato's accusation that rhetoric is unpatriotic. According to Plato, through Socrates, rhetoricians produce beliefs, not truths. Rhetoricians are simply flatterers, using language to make things seem good and to manipulate people. Plato's student, Aristotle, analyzed, critiqued and expanded his professor's philosophy. Aristotle realized that writing and speaking have multiple purposes, some good and some bad. In Rhetoric, Book I, Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion."1 In other words, either the identification of persuasive techniques or the practice of persuasion or both is the goal of a rhetorician.Aristotle's treatise is the basis of contemporary rhetoric. However, numerous twentieth-century practitioners have expanded his definition. Sharon Crowley views rhetoric as a way to arrive at mutual understanding. Kenneth Burke thinks that rhetoric includes any kind of means (signs, symbols, language) to persuasion, and Barry Brummett views rhetoric as the use of cultural signs, symbols and words to convey preferential meanings to a group.
The Rhetorical Triangle
All rhetoricians agree that a writer's or speaker's ability to persuade depends on how well he/she appeals to his/her audience in three areas: logos (appeal to reason), pathos (appeal to emotion), and ethos (appeal to character). According to Aristotle in Rhetoric, Book I
, "Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [(ethos)]; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [(pathos)]; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [(logos)]."2 The three modes form what we now call the Rhetorical Triangle. Imagine there is an equilateral triangle below.
Ethos
/\
/ \
/ \
Logos Pathos
The appeals are what a writer or speaker uses to persuade his/her audience, aligning them with their corresponding places on the following triangle.
Author/Orator
/\
/ \
/ \
Text/Speech Reader/Listener
The Rhetorical Triangle is equilateral because the equal sides and angles illustrate the idea that each aspect of the triangle is as important as the other aspects. It also suggests that a balance among the three is essential. Too much of one aspect likely will produce a negative effect.
Aristotle knew that different contexts demand different strategies. In other words, to communicate well, you must know your audience and your topic. To inform, to persuade, to move an audience requires communication and knowledge, the combination being contextual and rhetorical. You must know what to say and how to say it. The Rhetorical Triangle reminds us of how to approach a situation. (For more information on the rhetorical appeals, please refer to the post, "The Three Approaches to Academic Discourse.")
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Aristotle knew that different contexts demand different strategies. In other words, to communicate well, you must know your audience and your topic. To inform, to persuade, to move an audience requires communication and knowledge, the combination being contextual and rhetorical. You must know what to say and how to say it. The Rhetorical Triangle reminds us of how to approach a situation. (For more information on the rhetorical appeals, please refer to the post, "The Three Approaches to Academic Discourse.")
_______________________________________________________
1Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg
, eds., The Rhetorical Tradition (Boston: Bedford, 1990) 153.
, eds., The Rhetorical Tradition (Boston: Bedford, 1990) 153.
2Ibidem.
