Rhetoric and Phaedrus

The subject matter in Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Plato’s Phaedrus both address themes that can be directly related with blogging. Book I Chapter 3 of Aristotle’s Rhetoric explains that rhetoric is composed of three parts: speaker, subject, and person addressed.  While the speaker has control over the subject, it is ultimately the person addressed, or hearer, that the speaker is trying to convince.  This is the purpose of the rhetorician.  Aristotle defines rhetoric as

“the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”

With that said, most bloggers can be considered rhetoricians.  Each blogger is a speaker who posts material on a subject to an audience.

“The rhetorician may describe either the speaker’s knowledge of the art or his moral purpose.”

There are a number of bloggers who use their blog posts to validate their knowledge of a certain topic amongst a community of like-minded bloggers.  The quality of the posts will affect how the speaker’s audience perceives the subject with the added hope that it will generate a discussion or even a following.  Aristotle points out that good rhetoric can be a powerful tool if used properly.  It is important for bloggers to monitor the tone and content of their posts because it can so easily be criticized by the wider, unseen audience.  With that in mind, any blogger who manages a public blog containing material relevant to a discourse must be prepared to deal with feedback from the readers.

Socrates: What would Sophocles or Euripides say to the professors of rhetoric? And suppose a person were to come to Sophocles or Euripides and say that he knows how to make a very long speech about a small matter, and a short speech about a great matter, and also a sorrowful speech, or a terrible, or threatening speech, or any other kind of
speech, and in teaching this fancies that he is teaching the art of tragedy?
Phaedrus: They too would surely laugh at him if he fancies that tragedy is anything but the arranging of these elements in a manner that will be suitable to one another and to the whole.
Socrates: They would say to him in the most courteous manner and in the sweetest tone of voice, “You only know the alphabet of your art.” But I do not suppose that they would be rude or abusive to him: Would they not treat him
as a musician would a man who thinks that he is a harmonist because he knows how to pitch the highest and lowest note; happening to meet such an one he would not say to him savagely, “Fool, you are mad!” But like a musician, in a gentle and harmonious tone of voice, he would answer: “My good friend, he who would be a harmonist must certainly know this, and yet he may understand nothing of harmony if he has not got beyond your stage of
knowledge, for you only know the preliminaries of harmony and not harmony itself.”
Phaedrus: Very true.

Socrates reminds us that one’s rhetoric will be improved the more a person practices the art.  So too with blogging, the more you blog, the more you are building on this online persona that with each new post builds on your understanding of rhetoric and how to present your material to your audience.  So in the initial phases of your entry to the blogosphere, encountering constructive criticism should be welcomed and used to better yourself.  If anything, feedback that critiques your work should be used to point you towards the right direction.

Socrates: But even to fail in an honorable object is honorable.