Rhetoric

Description

If you truly want to understand rhetoric at its core basis, this is where you have to get started. Aristotle’s Rhetoric is one of the clearest writings in history on the subject of rhetoric and dialectic, presented by a master of the art and one of the greatest philosophers of all time.

During the times of Plato and Aristotle, the two esteemed philosophers, along with Socrates, were the only ones to see the true value and purpose of rhetoric. They saw it not as a means of forced persuasion through emotional manipulation and the omission of facts, but as a definite, powerful tool to be used for the benefit of philosophy and human enlightenment.

While Plato blamed the sophists for the wrongful imprisonment and death of his master Socrates – due in most part to the misuse of sophistic rhetoric – Aristotle was the one to identify rhetoric as one of the three key components to philosophic growth and understanding, alongside dialectic and logic.

This is Aristotle’s original Rhetoric, translated for the benefit of modern readers who want to have a firm basis for the understanding of this exceptionally valuable and often underestimated skill. The document is made up of three parts called “books” that Aristotle developed during two major periods that he had spent in Athens – 367 to 347, when he was alongside Plato in the Academy, and 335 to 322 while running the Lyceum.

While the first book provides a general summery on what rhetoric is and an explanation, along with examples, of the various types of rhetoric, Book II introduces the key varieties of persuasion that every orator has to rely on. Finally, in Book III you can find elements of style, delivery and arrangement that are equally important.

The Rhetoric is quite possibly one of the most well-organized and insightful early philosophical work still available, as well as a testament to the genius and skill of Aristotle as a master orator and philosopher.
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