The relationship of civic virtue and rhetoric were synonymous. Rhetoric’s role in civic culture. Meaning, to what extent did the quality of someone’s speech correlate with civic virtue? you are asking about the extent to which one must be a good speaker in order to be a good person (and vice versa)
In ancient Greece, democracy began in the city of Athens. As a democratic society, people were able to use the right of free speech and free assembly. In this type of democratic setting, rhetoric was born and was able to flourish. Athenians experimented with direct democracy, where citizens of the community attended democratic intuitions to participate in debates and vote on issues pertaining to civic life. Rhetoric was a tool to influence the politics of the time and “gain political power in his community” (pg13); therefore, rhetoric was highly valued as a civic virtue.
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Rhetoric as, a civic virtue, has great power because it has the ability to shape communities, change public opinion, and greatly effect civic life.
For example, in ancient Greece, rhetoricians were able to persuade people in the courts to win over property disputes, instead of providing truth or evidence. “A rhetorician is able of speaking against all comers, whatever the issue, and can consequently be more persuasive in front of crowds about - to cut a long story short - anything he likes” (pg 20) Meaning, a rhetorician could speak persuasively on anything, regardless of his expertise in the field. This allowed whoever was able to give the best speech the winner – whether they are right or ethical. Rhetoric was even powerful to put people to death, based on the persuasiveness of the speaker. Even though rhetoric is not used in this particular way today, it is still a powerful tool in shaping
society. Because rhetoric is powerful in civic life, Plato saw it as wrong. Rhetoric as a powerful tool of persuasion can lead to any action being done. Rhetoric may have the ability to improve life, but it could just as easily be used to manipulate and to cause negative effects on people’s lives. As Polus describes a rhetorician’s power as, “Don’t they resemble dictators in that they can execute anyone they want, and confiscate a person’s property and then banish that person from their community if it seems best?” (Pg 35) Meaning, the public can easily be persuaded by conviction in speeches and are incapable of analyzing or deciding anything on their own. Rhetoricians are persuading ignorant masses in the assembly and courts. Thereby causing civic life to be controlled by powerful rhetoricians who are skilled at speaking well. Rhetoric is merely a form of flattery and functions similarly to cookery, which masks the undesirability of unhealthy food by making it taste good. Thus, Plato considered any speech of lengthy prose aimed at flattery as within the scope of rhetoric.
Talking about Language and Rhetorics, which in turn means using lanuage to communicate persuasively. Rhetorics date all the way back to the fifth Century in athens, Greece. There is 3 types of Rhetorics that are known. The First being Logos, which is the logic behind an argument. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence. The next is Pathos, using Emotional Apeal in terms of persuading someone or an audience. Then there is Ethos, using moral competence to persuade the audience to trust in what they are saying is true.
Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, and its uses the figures of speech and other compositional techniques. It’s designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience.
...o engage in destructive rhetoric are held to task, rhetoric cannot simply be attributed to some state of affairs, while the rhetorician from whose lips the rhetoric emerges is held to no ethical standard. Certainly it is conceivable that rhetoric can have destructive consequences. Rhetoric seems to have played a central role in the deterioration of people’s faith in their systems of government, or the electoral process by which they choose their representatives. A view of rhetoric in which the rhetorician is accountable for the effects of the change they inflict upon the world could lead to less destructive rhetoric and a society which operates on the solid ground of personal responsibility.
In the time of ancient Greece, there were a category of teachers called the sophists who believed that wisdom and Rhetoric could and should be used for profit and personal gain. Aristotle, a well-known teacher, disagreed with this completely and believed that while Rhetoric is persuasive, it should be used morally and with good intentions. He stressed the idea of using moral standards along with emotion, logic and truth to persuade any audience. Almost 1000 years later, Augustine took this step even further with the use of rhetoric within religion practice. He emphasized the idea that rhetoric is a means by which to promote good will and spread truth. Today, modern rhetorician Dubinsky would take this step even further, by stating that Rhetoric isn’t just a means to an end. Rhetoric improves our very lives and unites people under a common good with the proper ethics. While it is unfortunate that they are from different time periods, Aristotle, St Augustine, and Dubinsky would surely all agree that Rhetoric is a means by which regular people can be persuasive with their ideals. All while using the right morals, good intentions, and correct ethics to do so, so that any regular person can influence and change their world, from the simplest of arguments to the greatest of debates. That is why I believe we should study these famous rhetoricians, because their teachings teach us how to become better people and better writers. Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Dubinsky believed in Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which means studying and working with your audience to persuade them in such way that you’re collaborating for the benefit of both the writer and the reader.
Philosophers as well as ordinary people have different ideals and morals. They sometimes agree on things, but most of the time they contradict each other on certain ideas or principles. Both Pericles and Aristophanes were wise men that analyzed certain aspects of life that are essential for a thriving society. Although Pericles has a point on democracy being the essential way to rule Athens, through seeing Aristophanes’ evidence I argue that unjust speech can corrupt the society because it makes people engage in selfish behavior and make bad decisions that affect everyone.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, in which there are three forms. Ethos the credibility of the author, Pathos the emotion you create, and logos the logical side of an argument. Many articles and papers use these terms of persuasion to see their side one such document is The Declaration of Independence. The purpose for said document was for the 13 original colonies to declare freedom from the oppressive rule of England.
Rhetoric by definition is the art of persuasion by speaking and writing; being able to sway someone else’s opinion to match or appear similar to your own. Aristotle has given further definition to rhetoric. He created the rhetoric triangle. The rhetorical triangle uses the three basic credentials that people use to make decisions. They are ethos, or credibility of the author or speaker; pathos, or ability to draw emotion out of your audience; and finally the logos, or the logic of the message being sent out and determined valid by the audience. I feel that one of the best example that I could find of the rhetoric triangle is the character Ellsworth Toohey, in the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This character uses every part of the rhetoric
The question of what is rhetoric and what does it do has been a question since stories were even being recorded. However, now there are multiply different scholars who believe that they understand what rhetoric is and how to use it. For someone to use rhetoric correctly they must first have a definition of rhetoric that either they have made to fit themselves or they find a previous definition that suits them. In order for me to become an improved rhetor and be able to rhetorical discuss and evaluate pieces of literature or speeches like General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell address, I must first define rhetoric in how I understand it. Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking aimed to sway your audience in a direction that has been chosen by the rhetor. The way in which a citizen uses rhetoric can change over time. The need to argue the same problem is invalid so the need to use the same rhetorical situations is invalid. You can use rhetoric in a multitude of different areas within our life however; we must choose to use it for good or for evil. In order for rhetoric to still be used in speech today one of two things must be true. There must either be a Truth in life and rhetoric or the more likely choice, that rhetoric changes throughout time and situations. You are not trying to change someone’s mind about something however; you are trying to convince them that you are also correct. I will be using multiple pieces of works that are defining rhetoric to support my definition and finish by evaluating General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell Address using my definition of rhetoric.
The community involvement began when democracy first developed in the early 7th century and furthered by Solon, who began reforming the Athenian justice system and organizing citizens by economic class. (10) Pericles pushed the envelope even further with the radical democracy of the Greek Golden Age, which emphasized direct democracy of the people by voting and selecting jurors to court cases randomly, giving more power to the poor classes and upsetting the elite. (11) However, with more freedom, came more responsibility. As Pericles himself said in his address to the Athenian people, "if a man takes no interest in public affairs, we alone do not commend him as quiet; but condemn him as useless." (12) To the Athenian people, participation in politics and law was not only important, but vital to government run by the people. Pericles even expounded on this by saying "action does not suffer from discussion but, rather, from the want of that instruction," (13) and "we have an exceptional gift of acting after calculating the prospects... whereas other men are bold from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection." (14) Athens was strong because the citizens needed to participate in their government and, in turn, needed to think critically about the decisions they made with each of their
Rhetoric is the use of words, through speech or writings, for the sake of persuasion and argument. The name Aristotle is known around the world. He is one of the most famous philosophers throughout history. Aristotle introduced to us the concept of the Rhetorical Triangle and three Rhetorical Appeals in order to apply structure to persuasion and argument. The Rhetorical Triangle, consists of the audience, the author, and the text, or message. Each Rhetorical Appeal corresponds to a point of the triangle. Logos, which is Greek for words, follows logic and applies to the text. The Greek word for character is ethos, it refers to credibility applies to the authority of the author to speak on the given subject.
Rhetoric is the art of effective speaking or writing, and persuasion. Most people use rhetoric numerous of times in their everyday life without their concern or knowing.
One important contribution of Ancient Greek to the Western Culture is Democracy. The very term itself is of Greek derivation, meaning "People’s Rule". Unlike modern states which call themselves "Democratic". For example, Pericles Funeral Oration gave the greatest contribution to our today’s society. In .(Doc. 2) Pericles stated "Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few". Because of this quote it has contributed the society tremendously due to the fact that the democratic society is a direct democracy. Yet in a way, people have the power to overthrow other powerful representatives; Pericles Funeral Oration, gave us the idea of keeping the civilization as a democracy rather than Oligarchy, Monarchy, and many more. Moreover, Solon an Athenian tyrant discussed his thought about democracy. In .(doc. 4) Solon stated, "I drew up laws for bad and good alike, and set straight justice over each". Solon reveals that he has created laws for the good of others. He wanted every individual having the ...
In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means “the power of the people.” The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that “Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were essential in order to free up time for the citizens to participate in the matters of the state. The development of Athenian democracy has been fundamental for the basis of modern political thinking, although many in modern society UK would be sceptical to call it a democracy. Plato and Aristotle in The Republic and The Politics respectively were critical of the Athenian democracy, by examining the culture and ideology present the limitations and possible downfalls of a democratic way of life. Within this essay I will outline these limitations and evaluate their validity.
In Gorgias Plato claims that rhetoric is not a τέχνη (462b) and his accusations against sophists or rhetoricians seem to be reducible to three closely related arguments: first, that rhetoric doesn’t have its own subject (that would make it a τέχνη); second (and most importantly) that it lacks the theoretical basis that is necessary for a τέχνη, and thirdly that rhetoric is used for morally base intentions and pursuits, which corrupt the souls of the citizenship (503a). And, as will be apparent below, a discussion of these problems is offered both in Plato’s theory of true rhetoric in Phaedrus as well as in Aristotle’s treatment of rhetoric in his Rhetoric.
The teachings of sophism stressed highly on the importance of rhetoric and overall excellence. Even though sophists are often looked on in a negative light, lessons can be learned from the fifth century scholars. The art of rhetoric can get one far in life. When man can defend both sides of an argument or persuade his objective, there is no limit to what man can achieve.