Aristotle's Rhetoric Theory Paper

With communication being the basis of everyday life, it is extremely important to be able to understand certain communication actions. Scholars spend much of their careers studying and evaluating theories that can lead to more answers or more questions in that manner. By observing and testing methods some scholars develop their own worldwide known theories. Aristotle made this such thing, the Rhetoric theory, it is well known in the communication world, till today scholars are testing its work and find new information concerning it. The rhetoric theory is defined as “an ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion”(Griffin et al, 2015). It is a counterpart to dialectics and plays a large role in communication

Aristotle who was at the time Plato’s student in Greece, often disagreed with him and had his own view points which is how the rhetoric theory came to be. The initial theory was basically a response towards Plato’s negative thoughts on the use of persuasion. Plato’s main concerns consisted of unethical use of persuasion by the government officials to untruthfully make people agree with them (Griffin et al, 2015). It is clear from the beginning of the development of the theory that Aristotle had ”affairs of state at mind” (Griffin et al, 2015). As stated by Griffin “ Rhetoricians have always had a special interest in judicial argument, legislative debate, political rallies, religious sermons, and speeches given at celebration” (pg. 281). Living in the environment that he did this of course made sense because citizens of Greece had to know public speaking skills as a part of their democratic responsibility (Griffin et al, 2015). Presentation of self is also a big component of the early rhetoric development, in Ancient Greece and Rome this was really important. When the Roman Republic collapsed this of course shifted many said that rhetoric theory changed and some even went as far as to say it died (Griffin et al, 2015). This however has been proven to be wrong with time as the rhetoric theory still plays a fundamental role in

Yet the theory has one fault, the lack of organization and structure. Since Aristotle does not give clear definitions of multiple terms that have to do with the theory many scholars seem puzzled by it and the meaning of the theory (Griffin et al, 2015). Although they do understand that this might be a result of the records of the theory being in lecture formats not something written for the public, making it more difficult to format his thoughts. Some scholars turn to politics, ethics, drama, philosophy, and biology to get a better understanding about the theory (Griffin et al, 2015). As stated by Griffin, some scholars say that Aristotle thought of the audience as passive and are bothered by this fact. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website does an excellent job at presenting reasons why we need the rhetorical theory in our everyday lives. Although some might say that rhetorical speech is not needed because you can speak with facts and be straightforward, Aristotle believed everyone will need/use it while infront of others. It is also stated that the audience is not fooled because they can quickly pick up factors that don’t have to do with the topic or them, leading them to ignore such things. I agree with these statements made and especially this direct