Classical and Modern Rhetoric

Paper Summary:

The paper describes the differences between classic and modern rhetoric. The paper charts this changing use of rhetoric, while also examining the way external factors throughout history have had an impact on this theoretical evolution.

Outline:
Introduction
Classical Rhetoric
Modern Rhetoric

From the Paper:

"In philosophy and the human sciences, rhetoric has for centuries played a significant role. The art of rhetoric involves the usage of language to harness authority, reason, and emotions in order to persuade an audience to either agree with the speaker, pass judgment, or identify with a particular point of view and act on it. In Greece, rhetoric had its humble origins in the Sophist school of philosophy around 600 B.C. - many years before Socrates. Later, rhetoric was one of the major liberal arts to be taught in the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. The art of rhetoric would be confined to legal and political settings throughout the medieval period of history. A rhetorical argument may also utilize popular opinion, beliefs, and selected evidence. Modern rhetoric encompasses a wider range of practices than was the case in the ancient and medieval period."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Garver, E. (1994). Aristotle's Rhetoric: An Art of Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Hansen, M.H. (1991). The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. Boston: Blackwell.
• Nelson, J.S., Megill, A., & McCloskey, D.N. (1987). The Rhetoric of Human Sciences: Language and Argument in Scholarship and Public Affairs. London: University of Wisconsin Press.
• Ober, J. (1989). Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Ong, W.J. (2004). Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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