There's been some discussion on the listserv about the quizzes, so this week I thought I'd blog about the quiz questions for each reading. Today I'll blog about Chapter 21, The Rhetoric. Later in the week I'll blog about the other two chapters.
Here are some key points you should know about Chapter 21:
The Sophists were early Athenian public speaking teachers who took a practical approach but had not theoretical foundation. Aristotle envisioned rhetoric as an art and a science. An enthymeme is a deductive argument that omits a premise.
The canon of rhetoric that includes topoi is invention. Speaker credibility is related to Aristotle's notion of ethos. Ethos includes perceived intelligence, virtuous character, and good will. Metaphor is a key component of style, one canon or rhetoric. Aristotle originally listed four canons of rhetoric; later writers added a fifth, memory.
Aristotle's golden mean includes making truthful statements, self-disclosing, and displaying courage. Aristotle's Rhetoric has been criticized because he viewed the audience as passive.
Those points should get your started in studying Chapter 21 for this week's quiz.
~ Professor Cyborg
Week 15 #3
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2 comments:
Thanks a ton for the informations on the blogs this week, I think it'll be helpful along with the practice tests and outlines.
I found it ironic that in my philosophy class we just started Aristotle, and this week in class our reading involved him as well. Rhetoric is something that I feel is underestimated in how much power it has over people in our society today.
I agree with Aristotle's theory about ethos and how that pertains to speaker credibility. At first glance virtuous character and good will seemed very similar. I realized after reading it thoroughly that virtuous character was more about the speaker's way of living as a “good and honest person” (283). Whereas goodwill is more about the speaker's feelings, attitudes and actions towards and about his audience members. A speaker shows goodwill through having, “the listeners best interest at heart” (283). Virtuous character is more of a, lead by example, idea for source credibility. And goodwill is to show compassion and good intent towards those the speaker addresses. Perceived intelligence seemed more obvious to me, but I realize that it is more about being “equally yoked” with your audience. Someone could be very “book smart” but if your views completely clash with his/her values, you might not perceive him/her as intelligent, but rather ignorant. It is all perception based of course. The more shared values you have with the speaker, the more intelligent you are likely to view them.
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