Rhetoric is an art form that is used by everyone but understood by few. For those who understand how to use it, they have the ability to either display the truth or conceal it for some malicious gain. Ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato pondered this idea of Rhetoric because they understood the impact it has had and will have on the world.
In his Internet resource, Aristotle’s “Rhetoric,” Lee Honeycutt compiles W. Rhys Roberts’ translation of Aristotle’s Rhetoric into an easily accessible online document. Plato’s “Phaedrus“, written around 370 BC, also contains dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus that discusses the importance of rhetoric. This happens through their dialogue that contains analogies and stories used to exemplify their points rather than the more direct statements made by Aristotle in Rhetoric.
In Chapter 1 of Book 1, Aristotle describes the central idea of Rhetoric. He states that it is innate for all men to talk to one another based on their ideas. These ideas, statements, or arguments occur randomly but also intentionally. In the end, their influence depends on the speaker’s knowledge of Rhetoric. He gives the example of a judge in a court case. The Judge is influenced by “non-essentials” which consist of emotions that change how the words being said appeal to the person judging the case. He states that in this way, “it is clear, then, that rhetorical study, in its strict sense, is concerned with the modes of persuasion. “The function of rhetoric “is not simply to succeed in persuading, but rather to discover the means of coming as near such success as the circumstances of each particular case allow.”
The influence of words can be used to uncover the truth in a way that is more easily facilitated than hiding this truth in a fallacy. In this chapter Aristotle describes four ways in which rhetoric is useful. It has the ability to find the truth in all topics, because the truth will always prevail if argued in the right way. Aristotle says, “things that are true and things that are better are, by their nature, practically always easier to prove and easier to believe in.”
Although rhetoric has the ability to uncover the truth behind a discussion, truth is not enough in itself to be able to allow someone to change to mind of another. They need both the truth, and knowledge in the art of rhetoric to fully have an impact on the individuals in the dialogue. In “Phaedrus“, Socrates displays this point well while talking to Phaedrus:
Socrates: The mere knowledge of the truth not enough to give the art of persuasion. But neither is the art of persuasion separable from the truth. But perhaps rhetoric has been getting too roughly handled by us, and she might answer: What amazing nonsense you are talking! As if I forced any man to learn to speak in ignorance of the truth! Whatever my advice may be worth, I should have told him to arrive at the truth first, and then come to me. At the same time I boldly assert that mere knowledge of the truth will not give you the art of persuasion.
Human speech is one the most important qualities that we have to assert our impact on one another. It can be used to defend, attack, influence, manipulate, or cure. It has the ability to create an immense amount of pain and suffering, or oppositely, find the truth that is hidden deep down waiting to be uncovered. If Aristotle and ancient philosophers were able to discover the importance that rhetoric has in the world of human interactions, then any rational human being should be able to also understand their points. Aristotle’s fourth point in chapter one, in my opinion, best exemplifies the power of words:
Again, (4) it is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs. And if it be objected that one who uses such power of speech unjustly might do great harm, that is a charge which may be made in common against all good things except virtue, and above all against the things that are most useful, as strength, health, wealth, generalship. A man can confer the greatest of benefits by a right use of these, and inflict the greatest of injuries by using them wrongly.
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