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Single Idea 5849

[catalogued under 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric]

Full Idea

Rhetoric is a kind of offshoot of dialectic and of the study of ethics, and is quite properly categorized as political.

Clarification

'Dialectic' is philosophical reasoning

Gist of Idea

Rhetoric is a political offshoot of dialectic and ethics

Source

Aristotle (The Art of Rhetoric [c.350 BCE], 1356a)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'The Art of Rhetoric', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,H.C. [Penguin 1991], p.75


A Reaction

Aristotle gives a higher status to rhetoric than Socrates and Plato did - and rightly, in my view. We have lost sight of it as a vital part of politics, and philosophers must fight for virtue in rhetoric, which requires right reason and fine principles.