The art of Rhetoric
Where there is meaning, there is persuasion - Kenneth Burke
Hi all, This is a post with a blend of philosophy and history of rhetoric. First of all, I would like to thank purdue for providing the complete material of their Open writing Lab (OWL) online. I was browsing through the material from the web of OWL and happended to come across a presentation on visualrhetoric. Gradually, I got engrossed in the topic and made an extensive search in google on the topic and the aristotle philosophy of rhetoric. Hence, here is a small attempt in introducing the topic to the readers of the blog.......
The online version of aristotle's theory of rhetoric can be found at:
http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html
Now-a-days with raising importance in the ability of human for communication it is important for everyone to understand this particular field of communication, namely, persuasion inorder to efficiently coomunicate with people. Moreover, with the advent of technologies like Internet where the geographic restrictions have become hazy, it is very important for everyone to learn the art of rhetoric writing. Hence, this is just a very brief introduction to the field of persuasion through rhetoric...
Persuasion is the heart of the field of communication.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through the use of language. The means of persuasion may differ in each case. Aristotle lists out ethos, logos and pathos as the three most important means of persuasion. Any one whose volition is to be a renowned writer has to assimilate the essence of these forms of persuasion.
Let us first try to understand few definitions pertaining to the forms of persuasion:
Ethos is a form of persuasion which is derived when speakers character is presented in a favourable light. An Ethos based document basically relies on the reputation of the author(speaker).
Logos is derived from the logic of the speakers argument. scholarly documents (thesis) are usually logos driven. For example a paper presented on saving the world from pollution or Ozone degradation can not be Ethos driven. There should be a logic to convince the pannel of the pragmatic nature of the proposed idea. Even a small fallacy in the idea presented by a reputed author can spoil the whole document.
Pathos is based on emotions. Usually advertisements are based on this method of persuasion. Hence, one has to carefully select the suitable method of persuasion depending on the situation.
Aristotle in his book uses the philosophy of emotions to explain the art of rhetoric in persuasion. He explains how emotions (the temporary states of mind) can affect the judgements and says that a dexterous speaker should be capable of affecting the psychological moods of the the audience thus affecting their judgements.
The arouse of emotions like prejudice, pity, anger etc is all nothing but a personal appeal to the ones judging the case. Hence, any kind of emotion can be aroused in the audience by following a corresponding way of speaking.
The essence of the philosophy of Aristotles rhetoric itself is very huge. There are many other philosophies contributed by philosophists like wilson on the theory of rhetoric and I think I'm not qualified enough to present a detailed view of all those philosophies as I'm not from a philosophy background. The readers have to understand that, as already mentioned above, this is just a small attempt of mine in introudcing this particular branch of philosophy but not an attempt to explain what it is!
Interested audience can refer to the bibiliographical links provided below for a more concrete understanding of the concepts.
References and Bibiliographical Links:
Hi all, This is a post with a blend of philosophy and history of rhetoric. First of all, I would like to thank purdue for providing the complete material of their Open writing Lab (OWL) online. I was browsing through the material from the web of OWL and happended to come across a presentation on visualrhetoric. Gradually, I got engrossed in the topic and made an extensive search in google on the topic and the aristotle philosophy of rhetoric. Hence, here is a small attempt in introducing the topic to the readers of the blog.......
The online version of aristotle's theory of rhetoric can be found at:
http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html
Now-a-days with raising importance in the ability of human for communication it is important for everyone to understand this particular field of communication, namely, persuasion inorder to efficiently coomunicate with people. Moreover, with the advent of technologies like Internet where the geographic restrictions have become hazy, it is very important for everyone to learn the art of rhetoric writing. Hence, this is just a very brief introduction to the field of persuasion through rhetoric...
Persuasion is the heart of the field of communication.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through the use of language. The means of persuasion may differ in each case. Aristotle lists out ethos, logos and pathos as the three most important means of persuasion. Any one whose volition is to be a renowned writer has to assimilate the essence of these forms of persuasion.
Let us first try to understand few definitions pertaining to the forms of persuasion:
Ethos is a form of persuasion which is derived when speakers character is presented in a favourable light. An Ethos based document basically relies on the reputation of the author(speaker).
Logos is derived from the logic of the speakers argument. scholarly documents (thesis) are usually logos driven. For example a paper presented on saving the world from pollution or Ozone degradation can not be Ethos driven. There should be a logic to convince the pannel of the pragmatic nature of the proposed idea. Even a small fallacy in the idea presented by a reputed author can spoil the whole document.
Pathos is based on emotions. Usually advertisements are based on this method of persuasion. Hence, one has to carefully select the suitable method of persuasion depending on the situation.
Aristotle in his book uses the philosophy of emotions to explain the art of rhetoric in persuasion. He explains how emotions (the temporary states of mind) can affect the judgements and says that a dexterous speaker should be capable of affecting the psychological moods of the the audience thus affecting their judgements.
The arouse of emotions like prejudice, pity, anger etc is all nothing but a personal appeal to the ones judging the case. Hence, any kind of emotion can be aroused in the audience by following a corresponding way of speaking.
The essence of the philosophy of Aristotles rhetoric itself is very huge. There are many other philosophies contributed by philosophists like wilson on the theory of rhetoric and I think I'm not qualified enough to present a detailed view of all those philosophies as I'm not from a philosophy background. The readers have to understand that, as already mentioned above, this is just a small attempt of mine in introudcing this particular branch of philosophy but not an attempt to explain what it is!
Interested audience can refer to the bibiliographical links provided below for a more concrete understanding of the concepts.
References and Bibiliographical Links:
- http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/#works
- http://www.molloy.edu/academic/philosophy/sophia/aristotle/rhetoric/rhetoric2a_nts.htm
- http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html
- The Art of Rhetoric : Value inquiry book series Giorgio A. Pinton & aurthur W. Shippee - Translators and editors
- http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/arte/arte.htm
- Aristotle: The art of Rhetoric penguin classics
- The art of Rhetoric: Thomas wilson
- http://www.write101.com/W.Tips132.htm
- http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/L193.html
posted by goldeneagle at 2:23 AM
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