What is Rhetoric?
Introduction to Rhetoric as a Topic
of Study
What are we going to study?
 The history of Rhetoric as a topic consists of
2,500 years of communication practice,
theorizing as to how that practice works, and
teaching as to how to best produce it. In other
words, a body of literature as to:
 Theories,
 Models, and
 Practice
The study of Models
speakers, speeches, and written
discourse--is generally done in courses
perhaps titled "history of [X type of]
rhetoric"
The study of Practice
 communication production--takes place in
public speaking, oral interpretation,
interpersonal, small group, listening, and
writing courses. by examining the historical
personages, literature, and social
circumstances which produced our
understandings of how communication
operates.
 Rhetorical Studies examine these questions
from a humanistic point of view.
How may we define the topic?
Over the course of 2,500 there have been
numerous definitions for the term
"Rhetoric." Let's note three main
approaches, the details and significance
of which we will examine in greater
detail through the course.
Three Definitions
 -Rhetoric is the art of discovering all the
available means of persuasion in any given
case (Aristotle)
 -Rhetoric is adjusting ideas to people and
people to ideas (Bryant)
 -Rhetoric is communication which helps
people think alike so that they may share
values, dispositions toward actions, and
actions. (Burke and Perelman)
So why do we study Rhetoric:
who needs it?
 Every discipline which seeks to convey its
subject matter in order to gain adherents:
 Every individual who wants their
communication to have impact:
 Any speaker or writer must use rhetoric if they
are to succeed.
Why is Rhetoric Important?
 Humans cooperate by the social act of
constructing mutually compatible
interpretations of reality. Rhetoric is the
refinement of the communicative life of
the individual for the good of the
society. It is essential to democracy
(more on this later)
Course Overview
We’ll be studying rhetoric and rhetoricians
from three major periods:
 Pre-modern--Sophists, Gorgias,
Isocrates, Plato, & Aristotle
 Modern--Locke, Vico, Bitzer,Burke,
Perelman, & Vatz
 Postmodern--Foucault, Althusser &
Habermas