Editing Rhetoric (section)

{{short description|Art of persuasion}}
{{for|the work by Aristotle|Rhetoric (Aristotle){{!}}''Rhetoric'' (Aristotle)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Rhetoric}}

[[File:Knight academy lecture (Rosenborg Palace).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Painting depicting a lecture in a knight academy, painted by [[Pieter Isaacsz]] or [[Reinhold Timm]] for [[Rosenborg Castle]] as part of a series of seven paintings depicting the seven independent arts. This painting illustrates rhetoric.]]
[[File:Jesus-SermonOnTheMount (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jesus]] was a preacher in 1st-century [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]].]]

'''Rhetoric'''{{NoteTag|The word ''rhetoric'' comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ῥητορικός}} ''rhētorikós'', "oratorical", from {{lang|grc|ῥήτωρ}} ''rhḗtōr'', "public speaker".<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2392374 |chapter=ῥητορ-ικός (rhetorikos) |first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell |first2=Robert |last2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|year=1940}}
|2=op. cit. at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2392385 "ῥήτωρ (rhetor)"]
|3=op. cit. at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2392330 "ῥῆμα (rhema)"]
|4=op. cit. at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2342831 "ἐρῶ (ero)"]
}}</ref> The adjective form, ''rhetorical'', is pronounced {{IPAc-en|r|ɪ|ˈ|t|ɒr|ɪ|k|əl}}.}} is the [[Art (skill)|art]] of [[persuasion]]. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ([[trivium]]) along with [[grammar]] and [[logic]]/[[dialectic]]. As an [[academic discipline]] within the [[humanities]], rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or writers use to inform, persuade, and motivate their [[audience]]s.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book |last=Corbett |first=E. P. J. |year=1990 |title=Classical rhetoric for the modern student |location= New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=1}}
|2={{cite book |last1=Young |first1=R. E. |last2=Becker |first2=A. L. |last3=Pike |first3=K. L. |year=1970 |title=Rhetoric: discovery and change |location=New York |publisher=Harcourt Brace & World |page=1}} }}</ref> Rhetoric also provides [[heuristics]] for understanding, discovering, and developing [[argument]]s for particular situations.

[[Aristotle]] defined rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion", and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he called it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics".<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|author=[[Aristotle]]|title=[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]] |chapter-url=http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/rhet1-4.html |chapter=I.2§1359|translator-first=W. Rhys|translator-last=Roberts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916083515/http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/rhet1-4.html |archive-date=16 September 2008}}
|2={{cite book |chapter-url=http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/rhet1-2.html |author=[[Aristotle]]|title=[[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]]|chapter=I.2 |access-date=19 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415101347/http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/rhet1-2.html |archive-date=15 April 2012 |df=dmy-all}}
}}</ref> Aristotle also identified three persuasive audience appeals: [[logos]], [[pathos]], and [[ethos]]. The [[#Five Canons of Rhetoric|five canons of rhetoric]], or phases of developing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome: [[inventio]]n, [[Dispositio|arrangement]], [[Elocutio|style]], [[Memoria|memory]], and [[Pronuntiatio|delivery]].

From [[Ancient Greece]] to the late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role in [[Western education]] and [[Education in Islam|Islamic education]] in training [[Public speaking|orators]], [[lawyer]]s, counsellors, [[historian]]s, [[Politician|statesmen]], and [[poet]]s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Conley|title=Rhetoric in the European Tradition|publisher=[[University of Chicago]]|year=1991}}</ref>{{NoteTag|The definition of rhetoric is a controversial subject in the field and has given rise to philological battles over its meaning in Ancient Greece.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/07350199609389075 |volume=14 |title=On schiappa versus poulakos |year=1996 |journal=Rhetoric Review |pages=438–440 |last1=Parlor |first1=Burkean |last2=Johnstone |first2=Henry W. |issue=2}}</ref>}}