Term Paper on "Rhetorical Theory Classical and Modern"

Term Paper 11 pages (3137 words) Sources: 6 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Rhetoric

Classical and Modern Rhetoric

In philosophy and the human sciences, rhetoric has for centuries played a significant role. The art of rhetoric involves the usage of language to harness authority, reason, and emotions in order to persuade an audience to either agree with the speaker, pass judgment, or identify with a particular point-of-view and act on it. In Greece, rhetoric had its humble origins in the Sophist school of philosophy around 600 B.C. - many years before Socrates. Later, rhetoric was one of the major liberal arts to be taught in the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. The art of rhetoric would be confined to legal and political settings throughout the medieval period of history. A rhetorical argument may also utilize popular opinion, beliefs, and selected evidence. Modern rhetoric encompasses a wider range of practices than was the case in the ancient and medieval period. Having been in existence for over three thousand years, one cannot hold rhetoric in the same light, as it is constantly shifting and evolving over time. The modern conception of rhetoric holds that the older model is limited in its scope, as it relies on communication, which in turn is contingent on meaning. Rhetoric thus is no longer limited to legal and political discourse. The study of rhetoric encompasses a wide interdisciplinary field, including literary theory, critical theory, the philosophical schools of hermeneutics and post-structuralism, and the social sciences. From a disciplinary perspective, here we see the shift between classic and modern rhetoric. In the following essay, I intend to survey both classical and modern conceptions of rhetorical theory in order to show how the former evolved in to the latter. The idea is to chart the changing anatomy of rhetoric, while also examining the way external factors throughout history (such as socio-political climates) have had an impact on this theoretical evolution.

Classical and Modern Rhetoric

Introduction

In philosophy and the human sciences, rhetoric has for centuries played a significant role. The art of rhetoric involves the usage of language to harness authority, reason, and emotions in order to persuade an audience to either agree with the speaker, pass judgment, or identify with a particular point-of-view and act on it. In ancient Greece, rhetoric had its humble origins in the Sophist school of philosophy around 600 B.C. - many years before Socrates. Later, rhetoric was one of the major liberal arts to be taught in the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, alongside grammar and logic.

The art of rhetoric would be confined to legal and political settings throughout the Medieval period of history. For this reason, we now regard rhetoric as being one of the key components of a democratic society. The idea of free speech is closely tied up with theories of rhetoric. Political enfranchisement and free assembly are also rooted in rhetorical analysis.

This is not to say that rhetoric cannot be used in a coercive fashion, as an instrument of an authoritarian regime. As we have seen in the previous century, rhetoric is also employed as a tool of tyranny and dogmatism. Thus, it is important to note that rhetoric is not always employed in situations in which both speaker and listener may find themselves on equal footing in terms of debate.

It is important to note that rhetorical theory is not scientific, although it is frequently mistaken as such. Unlike scientific arguments, rhetoric does not make use of demonstrable facts. Rather, it frequently relies upon fallible opinions in rendering its argument. A rhetorical argument may also utilize popular opinion, beliefs, and selected evidence. These reliances are all referred to in rhetorical theory as "commonplaces," in that they form a common ground between the speaker and his or her audience.

Modern rhetoric encompasses a wider range of practices than was the case in the ancient and Medieval period. Having been in existence for over three thousand years, one cannot hold rhetoric in the same light, as it is constantly shifting and evolving over time. The modern conception of rhetoric holds that the older model is limited in its scope, as it relies on communication, which in turn is contingent on meaning. Rhetoric thus is no longer limited to legal and political discourse. Rhetoric has been broadened to include the study of meaning and how it comes to form. The study of rhetoric thus encompasses a wide interdisciplinary field, including literary theory, critical theory, the philosophical schools of hermeneutics and post-structuralism, and the social sciences.

From a disciplinary perspective, here we see the shift between classic and modern rhetoric. Whereas in the classical model, rhetoric was associated with such disciplines as law, politics, marketing, lobbying, advertising, and public relations, rhetoric has now broadened to include such areas as history, literature, the humanities, religion, journalism, science, the social sciences, and beyond (Nelson et. al. 1987). Every aspect of the human realm thus becomes reliant somehow on elements of the rhetorical, as all means of communication are saturated with meaning - a fact not picked up on in earlier times.

In the following essay, I intend to survey both classical and modern conceptions of rhetorical theory in order to show how the former evolved in to the latter. The idea is to chart the changing anatomy of rhetoric, while also examining the way external factors throughout history (such as socio-political climates) have had an impact on this theoretical evolution.

Classical Rhetoric

The use of rhetoric pre-dates the era when written texts were widely available. In ancient Greece, important thinkers and speakers would perform their works in front of an audience, and these were major events in the socio-political life of the classical era (Hansen 1991). Oftentimes, this was done in the form of competitions, and the winning result could be fame, political importance, as well as cultural capital (Ober 1989). Contrary to the modern notion that rhetoric is utilized to obscure important truths, rhetoric thus had a quite positive function in the classical era; it was considered to be a great skill, in that it enabled the speaker to order and classify their arguments in order to persuade large groups of people of important truths.

By the fifth century B.C., the study of rhetoric had been developed to the extent that the Sophists taught it widely. The best-known Sophists included Isocrates, Protagoras, and Gorgias. These men would travel around from city to city making rhetorical speeches as a means of attracting students, who were then charged a fee in order to learn the art of rhetoric. Students of rhetoric would learn all about various aspects of speech and discourse. The Sophists taught their students how to analyze different parts of speech, analyzed poetic strategies, invented different ways of arguing, and debated philosophical questions regarding the nature of reality (Romilly 1992).

Plato made the next important philosophical contribution to the theory of rhetoric. He argued that the art of rhetoric (or public speaking) existed apart from the art of the dialectic. Plato resented the Sophists, in that he felt that their "art of rhetoric" was in fact a tool for manipulating meaning. Instead of communicating truths, the Sophist rhetoricians were merely skilled in arguing for the sake of arguing, and thus persuading the listener of views that he or she likely had already. (Today, one might say that the Sophists were guilty of "intellectualism.") the form of rhetoric that Plato promoted was dialectical in nature, a method that engaged the listener in the pursuit of truth.

Aristotle would elaborate many of Plato's teachings on rhetoric in to a more systematic apparatus. Aristotle considered rhetoric to be the counterpart of the Platonic dialectic. Both dialectic and rhetoric are inseparable components of discourse. Dialectical methods are employed for seeking out truth in matters relating to theory, while rhetorical methods are used to find truth in more practical matters (such as determining whether or not a person is guilty in a court of law) (Garver 1994).

The ancient Greek conception of rhetoric would carry over in to ancient Rome. Greek rhetoricians would be hired to teach in Roman schools in order to learn the fine art of rhetoric and dialectic. Thus, Roman rhetoric developed - although this strain of rhetoric was more partial to practical matters, rather than the loftier theoretical ambitions of the Greeks. In particular, the work of Cicero and Quintillion served as an important extension of Sophist, Platonic, and Aristotelian forms of rhetoric.

After the Roman Empire broke up, the study of rhetoric continued, although for several years, it was not pursued with as much rigor as it had been previously. Then, in the medieval period, universities began to spring up across Europe, and the study of rhetoric began to flourish once again. At the same time, the focus in rhetoric shifted throughout the medieval period, with more of an emphasis on writing - particular the arts of letter and sermon writing. Rhetoric assumed second position to logic in formal education. Where rhetoric was emphasized, it was through rigorous exercises in the creation… READ MORE

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