The Rise of Rhetoric

Response: Lectures 1-3

Simultaneously a modern day component of education on writing and a historically rich journey seeking to understand thought, rhetoric is many things. The history of rhetoric seems to be just as layered as its definition. First described and theorized by Plato, Rhetoric was originally the idea of teaching other people how to persuade through political speeches. Aristotle gave the term deeper meaning, enabling thousands to study that meaning for centuries.

Despite this Greek foundation, rhetoric belongs to the world and is thus shaped by individual cultures that exist in their many different forms today and historically. Though imperfections that exist in any culture also flourished in ancient Greece, Greek ideas on rhetoric are worth studying because they have persisted in practice and influence and Aristotle’s works in particular have and continue to withstand the test of time as we grapple with time’s changing powers.

The rise of rhetoric is often linked with the rise of democracy. Though this link also depends on the definition of ‘rhetoric’ to be truly foundational, the Greek system that claims rhetoric is interesting to examine when beginning examinations of rhetoric. The story of Corax and his student Tisias shows that the need for skillful public speaking had become powerful and that rhetoric’s rise was associated with the end of tyranny and the start of democracy. As the Greeks developed equality laws, the shape of democracy began to shift into something more concrete. Though money and personality still played an undeniable role, every male citizen theoretically had a chance to influence decisions and power. The Greeks liked their lot systems. But despite the influence of luck at winning the lots and economic influence, rhetorical power became a true contender in and beyond the agora. It has remained significant long after the structures holding up the agora have turned to magnificent ruin.

Thus, it is important to study rhetoric to understand communication, to indeed teach others how to communicate effectively, to understand oneself, to notice unnoticed beliefs, to answer difficult questions about the origin of ideas and truths, and to span the bridge of past and present with those who have spanned their own bridges through the centuries.

Though I attended a liberal arts university for undergrad, apart from Literary Criticism, “rhetoric” was rarely mentioned. Triple majoring in English, Psychology, and Liberal Arts with a concentration in History, I certainly danced around the questions and concepts of rhetoric without really engaging them. It was this summer as I began preparations for the graduate program that I really began to ask ‘rhetorical questions’ like the ones mentioned in Lecture One. Reading the Norton Book of Friendship, the introduction (written by Eudora Welty) tied friendship to language:

“Did friendship between human beings come about in the first place along with—or through—the inspiration of language? It can be safe to say that when we learned to speak to, and listen to, rather than to strike or be struck by, our fellow human beings, we found something worth keeping alive, worth the possessing, for the rest of time. Might it possibly have been the other way round—that the promptings of friendship guided us into learning to express ourselves, teaching ourselves, between us, a language to keep it by? Friendship might have been the first, as well as the best, teacher of communication” (40.)

Reading these introductory thoughts on rhetoric reminded me of the realization that began to stir when I first read this quote. Rhetoric, like language itself, extends in some subtle way to every aspect of my life.

One of my history professors used to have a professor who started every class the same way. He’d walk to the front of the room, pick up a chair, lift it above his head, and throw it as far as he could. Then he’d say, “If you’ve taken one of my classes, you’ve seen this before. But history never repeats itself. The chair never lands in the same place. The students in my class are never completely the same. But the present’s similarities to history keep the knowing smirks on the returning students and the looks of shock on the faces of those new students.”

So in a season of change, I look forward to understanding this historical perspective to the shifting times. I am thrilled (and possibly a bit terrified) to begin to understand the best communication methods by grappling with difficult questions. Plus, I’m really looking forward to being able to sound very learned.

Questions:

If simplification “is the essence of rhetoric,” then is songwriting rhetoric? It would seem to me that songwriting takes complicated concepts such as love, power, money, faith, fear, and heartbreak, and (when done well) condenses the concepts into easily memorable lines that flow. What is the history of rhetoric and songwriting? Is this why people have traditionally feared music’s power?

Is it naïve to wonder what came first: rhetoric or democracy? I can clearly see how democracy, even the form of democracy known to the Greeks, influenced rhetoric, but doesn’t the very story of Corax and Tisias show that rhetoric was important as a precursor to democracy? Influential people had to collectively decide to move to a jury system. I’m not familiar enough with the histories of the world to make any claims, but perhaps democracy rose in Greece because the still undefined rhetoric was already strong enough to bring it about.

#GreekRhetoric #EudoraWelty