The Father of Rhetoric In the field of composition and writing studies, rhetoric has many different meanings. Though definitions vary from one practitioner to another, rhetoric generally means the study and use of persuasion, a meaning that fist originated way back when it was first used by ancient Greeks and Romans, and has been varied ever since. In this paper, I will discuss the idea that all forms of rhetoric is just a variation of Greek and Roman work, especially Aristotle’s.
During the golden age of Greece and Rome art, architecture, and literature thrived. Rhetoric, in the form of oratory, was essential to both societies, as Greeks and Romans employed rhetoric to resolve disputes in the law courts and to promote political action (Kastely). Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the Roman rhetoricians Quintillian and Cicero
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The Greek and Romans considered this art to be the foundation of democracy and law, and those against the moving of crowds displayed only a testament to the speaker’s power. We see it everywhere. Presidential campaigns, PR when a company needs to convince the audience that they’re not to blame, in situations of crisis, of natural disasters, in moments of pride, and pretty much anywhere else that there is an audience. It all goes back to the idea that it is not what you say, but how you say it. Rhetoric can shape the way we view things, so one must figure out how language is working in others' or one's own writing and speaking, the audience must divide form and content, what is being said and how this is said, because rhetoric examines the how of language, the methods and means of communication. The history of rhetoric is vast and changing, but whichever part of history that is examined, you can always trace it back to the father of rhetoric himself: