Summary Of Aristotle's Rhetoric

Aristotle writes pages upon pages about Rhetoric & its proper uses throughout his three books. However, a majority of his arguments come down to his personal interpretation of what is considered appropriate in any argumentative situation. Specifically in Part 11 of his third book Rhetoric, he makes many errors in these interpretations. (1) First, Aristotle has made a habit of being redundant. For example, Aristotle first brings up the idea that similes are metaphors in Part 10 on page 17 when he says, “The simile, as has been said before, is a metaphor, differing from it only the way it is put, and just because it is longer it is less attractive.” He then brings up the same idea two more times in part 11 but worded differently when he says: “Successful similes also, as has been said above, are in a sense metaphors…” and “These are all similes; and that similes are metaphors has been stated often already.” (2) Also, First, I take issue with Aristotle’s statement on page 22 that “successful similes as has been said above, are in a sense metaphors, since they always involve two relations like the proportional metaphor.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, on page 69, a Psychology Professor at Princeton University who is known for his works on figurative language, named Sam Glucksberg says, “Metaphors and similes are not interchangeable.