What is Rhetoric?

Argument or Agreement?

• Rhetoric is the ancient art of argumentation and discourse.
• Aristotle called it, "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”
• When we write or speak to convince others of what we believe, we are "rhetors."
• When we analyze the way rhetoric works, we are "rhetoricians."

Philosophy & Its Influences

• The earliest known studies of rhetoric come from the Golden Age, when philosophers of ancient Greece discussed logos, ethos, and pathos (philosophy’s three persuasive audience appeals)
• Aristotle is the Greek philosopher who used these types of rhetoric the most often in his discourses; his use of rhetoric has earned him the title of most influential philosopher in history.

The 3 Appeals

Logos

• A well reasoned argument or rational discourse.
• The Sophists (those who followed Sophocles) used the term to mean discourse.
• Aristotle applied the term to refer to "reasoned discourse“ or "the argument" as relates to persuasive public speech in the field of rhetoric.