Defined by Aristotle the "faculty of discovering in the
particular case all the available means of persuasion"
Draco
An elder citizen considered to be the wisest of the
Greeks, to sort their laws into an organized system
known as codification
Pericles
installation of a pure democracy to maintain,
a liberalized judicial system
The nature of rhetoric
Greek assemblies debated old and new
laws on a yearly basis
Athens became a city of words, a city dominated
by the orator.
Dialectics and logic
A debate intended to resolve a conflict between two contradictory (or
polar opposites), or apparently contradictory ideas or elements logically,
establishing truths on both sides rather than disproving one argument.
The rhetorical approach
Rhetoric is the process of developing a persuasive argument, and oratory
is the process of delivering that argument
The Roman Republic’s
Adoption of Rhetoric
Cicero’s Influence
Considered to be the greatest of the Roman orators, and was,
among other things, a lawyer, politician, and philosopher.
The orator must have a firm
foundation of general knowledge.
De Inventione
De Oratore
Provide his colleagues with a broad interpretation
of Atticism, the best of the Greek theoreticians and
practitioners of oratory.
Quintillion’s Influence
Promoted rhetorical theory
from ancient Greece and from
the height of Roman rhetoric.
Rhetoric was primarily composed of three aspects: the
theoretical, the
educational, and the
practical
The Institutio Oratoria
Five canons: inventio, dispositio,
elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio
The Middle Ages
St. Augustine
Rhetoric became aligned with
preaching, letter writing, and
education.
St. Augustine had been a teacher of rhetoric
before converting to Christianity in A.D. 386
Christianity
The clearest bridge to the Middle Ages, according to Murphy and Katula
(1995), is found in the De doctrina christiana of Saint Augustine