Rhetoric

Aristotle

Digireads.com Publishing, 2020 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 144 pages

Written sometime in the 4th Century BC, Aristotle's "Rhetoric" is the definitive treatise on the art of persuasive public speaking. The art of oratorical persuasion was an essential skill for the successful politician during the days of ancient Greece and Aristotle's "Rhetoric" is considered one of the greatest works from antiquity on the subject. Like many of the surviving works attributable to Aristotle, "Rhetoric" was not intended for public dissemination, but was likely composed from notes taken by Aristotle's students as they absorbed his lectures. Aristotle provides a detailed analysis of the basic elements of effective speaking in the forum of public debate. Aristotle felt that persuasive discourse was essential for reaching consensus on public issues and, in "Rhetoric", makes the important and modern argument that such persuasive speaking in the public forum should be based on logic and knowledge rather than on emotion and manipulation. While written over two thousand years ago, the modern student of political science and law will find much that is useful and applicable to their respective disciplines in this work. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

About the author

Aristotle, 384 B.C. - 322 B. C. Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia, in 384 B.C. At the age of 17, he went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy, where he remained for about 20 years, as a student and then as a teacher. When Plato died in 347 B.C., Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias, was ruler. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians in 345 B.C., Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In 335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum Aristotle's works were lost in the West after the decline of Rome, but during the 9th Century A.D., Arab scholars introduced Aristotle, in Arabic translation, to the Islamic world. In the 13th Century, the Latin West renewed its interest in Aristotle's work, and Saint Thomas Aquinas found in it a philosophical foundation for Christian thought. The influence of Aristotle's philosophy has been pervasive; it has even helped to shape modern language and common sense. Aristotle died in 322 B.C.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Rhetoric
• Author: Aristotle
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing, 2020
• ISBN: 1420966014, 9781420966015
• Length: 144 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Public Speaking & Speech Writing; Language Arts & Disciplines / Rhetoric; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical