Rhetorical Studies Notes
27 June 1996

Situating Rhetorical Theory and History

Gorgias:  rhetoric as "producer of belief" -- for Gorgias this didn't mean just 
"belief" in some idea or abstract principle, but rather as a state of mystical 
ecstasy -- emphasis on poetry ("speech with rhythm"), the musical qualities of 
speech, and the notion of rhetoric as a magical art of incantation.

Isocrates:  rhetoric as a form of the exercise of power.  Isoc. taught his 
students to use rhetoric to excite the emotions and thus gain power; when he 
wanted power he gave advice to the King ("To Nicocles").  

Plato:  lambasted the sophists for valuing power and emotion over truth.  
Portrayed rhetoric as a mind-game or a foolish exercise in trickery & deceit.

Aristotle:  rhetoric as the "art of persuasion."  Divided knowledge into the 
following categories:

       Aesthetic   |   Dialectic   |   Rhetoric   
       ~~~~~~~~~   |   ~~~~~~~~~   |   ~~~~~~~~
        Beauty     |    Truth      |    Power
        art        | science/phil. |   politics
       form        |   substance   |   function
       
Rhetoric thus was considered a means to an end -- it was useful insofar as it 
produced certain results.

Further divided speeches into:

       Forensic   |   Epideictic   |   Deliberative
       past       |   present      |   future
       truth      |   beauty       |   probability
       
After the "crisis of rhetoric" that Todorov discusses, the study of rhetoric is 
more and more relegated to the study of the frivolous; ornamentation, etc.  
Discourse is seen as the "body" (substance, inside, essential) and rhetoric as 
"clothing" (decoration, outside, unnecessary).

The study of rhetoric is only useful in a society in which speech has power; 
thus the first crisis of rhetoric clearly coincides with the fall of democracy 
in Greece and the rise of Roman dynasties.  According to Todorov, there is a 
revitalization of the importance of rhetoric today thanks to the power of 
speech in the mass media.