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Single Idea 21667

[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric ]

Full Idea

There is a close alliance between the orator and the philosophical system of which I am a follower, since the orator borrows subtlely from the Academy, and repays the loan by giving to it a copious and flowing style and rhetorical ornament.

Gist of Idea

Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (On Fate ('De fato') [c.44 BCE], 02.03)

Book Ref

Cicero: 'On Fate, Stoic Paradoxes, Oratory', ed/tr. Rackham,H. [Harvard Loeb 1942], p.195

A Reaction

It is a misundertanding to think that rhetoric and philosophy are seen as in necessary opposition. Philosophers just seemed to think that oratory works a lot better if it is truthful.

The 24 ideas with the same theme [use of language for emotional influence]:

6331 Truth is not beautiful; beautiful speech is not truthful [Laozi (Lao Tzu)]
7357 People who control others with fluent language often end up being hated [Kongzi (Confucius)]
5864 Destroy seriousness with laughter, and laughter with seriousness [Gorgias]
9866 Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force [Gorgias, by Plato]
114 Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato]
116 Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato]
158 An excellent speech seems to imply a knowledge of the truth in the mind of the speaker [Plato]
159 Only a good philosopher can be a good speaker [Plato]
5946 'Phaedrus' pioneers the notion of philosophical rhetoric [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
5945 The 'Republic' is a great work of rhetorical theory [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
283 The question of whether or not to persuade comes before the science of persuasion [Plato]
3324 Plato's whole philosophy may be based on being duped by reification - a figure of speech [Benardete,JA on Plato]
22570 Rhetoric now enables good speakers to become popular leaders [Aristotle]
5849 Rhetoric is a political offshoot of dialectic and ethics [Aristotle]
20777 Rhetoric has three types, four modes, and four sections [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
21667 Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it [Cicero]
20814 Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery [Cicero]
6681 We only want to know things so that we can talk about them [Pascal]
20266 It is essential that wise people learn to express their wisdom, possibly even as foolishness [Nietzsche]
24120 Great orators lead their arguments, rather than following them [Nietzsche]
1596 Reasoning aims not at the understanding of objects, but at the desire to give beautiful speeches [Roochnik]
1578 If relativism is the correct account of human values, then rhetoric is more important than reasoning [Roochnik]
10358 Often socialising people is the only way to persuade them [Kusch]
20946 Rhetoric is built into language, so it cannot be stripped from philosophy [Bowie]