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Chapter 18: The Rhetoric
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
Chapter 18
The Rhetoric
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
• Studying public speaking and communication in general is important in U.S. society for
several reasons.
o First, for nearly two decades, the National Association of Colleges and Employers
(http://naceweb.org/s02242016/verbal-communication-important-job-candidate-
skill.aspx?terms=communication%20skills) has identified “communication skills” as
paramount to securing and maintaining a job.
o Second, public speaking, by definition, suggests that as a society people are receptive
to listening to views of others, even views that may conflict with their own.
o Third, when one speaks before a group, the information resonates beyond that group
of people.
• Effective public speaking has the ability to affect individuals beyond the listening
audience, and it is a critical skill for citizens of a democratic society.
• Aristotle is generally credited with explaining the dynamics of public speaking.
o The Rhetoric consists of three books: one primarily concerned with public speakers,
the second focusing on the audience, and the third attending to the speech itself.
o His Rhetoric is considered by historians, philosophers, and communication experts to
be one of the most influential pieces of writing in the Western world.
o According to Cooper, people in all walks of life—attorneys, legislators, clergy,
teachers, and media writers—can benefit in some way when they read Aristotle’s
writings.
II. The Rhetorical Tradition
• Aristotle went to study with his mentor, Plato, at the age of 17. Aristotle and Plato had
conflicting worldviews; therefore, their philosophies differed as well.
o Plato was always in search of absolute truths about the world.
▪ He didn’t care much whether these truths had practical value.
▪ Plato felt that as long as people could agree on matters of importance, society
would survive.
o Aristotle wasn’t as interested in achieving absolute truth as he was in attaining a
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logical, realistic, and rational view of society.
• Aristotle taught diverse groups of people in Greek society, and became known as a man
committed to helping the ordinary citizen—at the time, a land-owning male.
• During the day, common citizens (men) were asked to judge murder trials, oversee city
boundaries, travel as emissaries, and defend their property against would-be land collectors
(Golden, Berquist, Coleman, & Sproule, 2011).
o Because there were no professional attorneys at that time, many citizens hired
Sophists, teachers of public speaking, to instruct them in basic principles of
persuasion.
o Sophists teachers established small schools where they taught students about the
public speaking process and where they produced public speaking handbooks
discussing practical ways to become more effective public speakers.
▪ Aristotle, however, believed that many of these handbooks were problematic in
that they focused on the judicial system to the neglect of other contexts.
▪ Aristotle thought that authors spent too much time on ways to arouse judges
and juries: “It is not right to pervert the judge by moving him to anger or envy
or pity—one might as well warp a carpenter’s rule before using it,” Aristotle
observes (cited in Rhys & Bywater, 1954, p. 20). Aristotle reminds speakers
not to forget the importance of logic in their presentations.
• The Rhetoric could be considered Aristotle’s way of responding to the problems he saw in
these handbooks.
o Although he challenges a number of prevailing assumptions about what constitutes
an effective presentation, what remains especially important is Aristotle’s definition
of rhetoric: the available means of persuasion.
▪ Aristotle envisions and recommends is for speakers to work beyond their first
instincts when they want to persuade others. They need to consider all aspects
of speech making, including their audience members.
▪ The word has been tossed around by so many different types of people that it
may have lost Aristotle’s original intent.
• According to Jasper Neel (1994), people must return to Aristotle’s interpretation of rhetoric
or they will miss the essence of his theory.
III. Assumptions of the Rhetoric
• The first assumption underscores the interpretation of communication.
o Communication is a transactional process.
o Speakers should not construct or deliver their speeches without considering their
audiences. Speakers need to be audience centered.
▪ They should think about the audience as a group of individuals with
motivations, decisions, and choices and not as some undifferentiated mass of
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homogeneous people.
o Many public speakers are engaged in audience analysis, which is the process of
evaluating an audience and its background (e.g., age, sex, educational level, etc.) and
tailoring one’s speech so that listeners respond as the speaker hopes they will.
o Aristotle observed, “Of the three elements in speech-making—speaker, subject, and
person addressed—it is the last one, the hearer, that determines the speech’s end and
object” (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/aristotleonrhetoric.htm).
• The second assumption underlying Aristotle’s theory pertains to what speakers do in their
speech preparation and their speech making.
• Aristotle’s proofs refer to the means of persuasion, and, for Aristotle, three proofs exist:
ethos, pathos, and logos.
o Ethos refers to the perceived character, intelligence, and goodwill of a speaker as
they become revealed through his or her speech.
▪ Eugene Ryan (1984) notes that ethos is a broad term that refers to the mutual
influence that speakers and listeners have on each other.
▪ Ethos, according to Kenneth Andersen, a communication ethicist, is
“something you create on the occasion” (p. 131). To that end, a speaker’s ethos
is not simply something that is brought into a speaking experience; it is the
speaking experience.
▪ Melissa Waresh (2012) contends that ethos must necessarily take into
consideration the relationship between speaker and audience.
o Logos is the logical proof that speakers employ—their arguments and
rationalizations. For Aristotle, logos involves using a number of practices, including
using logical claims and clear language.
o Pathos pertains to the emotions that are drawn out of listeners.
▪ Aristotle argues that listeners become the instruments of proof when emotion is
stirred in them; listeners judge differently when they are influenced by joy,
pain, hatred, or fear.
IV. The Syllogism: A Three-Tiered Argument
• The term syllogism, defined as a set of propositions that are related to one another and
draw a conclusion from the major and minor premises.
• Typically, syllogisms contain two premises and a conclusion.
• A syllogism is nothing more than a deductive argument, a group of statements (premises)
that lead to another group of statements (conclusions).
▪ In other words, premises are starting points or beginners used by speakers. They
establish justification for a conclusion. In a syllogism, both major and minor
premises exist.
• However, in an often complex and convoluted society, drawing such a clear conclusion
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from preliminary premises may not be appropriate.
V. Canons of Rhetoric
• Invention is defined as the construction or development of an argument that is relevant
to the purpose of a speech.
• Invention is broadly interpreted as the body of information and knowledge that a
speaker brings to the speaking situation.
• Aids to invention are identified as topics.
• Topics, in this sense, refer to the lines of argument or modes of reasoning a speaker
uses in a speech.
o Topics help speakers enhance their persuasiveness.
o Speakers look to what are called civic spaces, or the metaphorical locations where
rhetoric has the opportunity to effect change, “where a speaker can look for
‘available means of persuasion’” (Kennedy, 1991, p. 45).
B. Arrangement
• Arrangement pertains to a speaker’s ability to organize a speech.
o Aristotle felt that speakers should seek out organizational patterns for their
speeches to enhance the speech’s effectiveness.
o Simplicity should also be a priority because Aristotle believed that there are
essentially two parts to a speech: stating the subject and finding the proof, or what
conclusion.
o The introduction should first gain the audience’s attention, then suggest a
connection with the audience, and finally provide an overview of the speech’s
purpose.
o The body includes all of the arguments, supporting details, and necessary
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examples to make a point.
o The conclusion or epilogue of a speech is aimed at summarizing the speaker’s
points and arousing emotions in the audience.
C. Style
• The use of language to express ideas in a certain manner is called style.
• Aristotle includes word choice, word imagery, and word appropriateness.
o Aristotle notes that strange words or glosses should be avoided.
D. Memory
• Storing invention, arrangement, and style in a speaker’s mind is memory.
• Aristotle did not spend significant time delineating the importance of memory in speech
presentation.
• Memorizing a speech often means having a basic understanding of material and
techniques.
E. Delivery
• Delivery refers to the nonverbal presentation of a speaker’s ideas.
o Delivery normally includes a host of behaviors, including eye contact, vocal cues,
pronunciation, enunciation, dialect, body movement, and physical appearance.
o Aristotle believed that delivery could not be easily taught, yet it is crucial for a
speaker to consider. He also taught that speakers should strive to be natural in
their delivery.
• Deliberative rhetoric concerns speakers who must determine a course of action—
something should or should not be done.
• The three types refer to three different time periods: forensic to the past, epideictic to the
present, and deliberative to the future.
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Chapter 18: The Rhetoric
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
• Amelie Rorty (1996) notes that forensic speaking requires focusing on arguments that tap
into judges’ psyches, including their beliefs about why certain criminals act the way they
do and which types of circumstances tempt people to break the law.
• Aristotle recognized that a person’s character is critical in forensic rhetoric.
o He interprets character as both status (i.e., whether a person is young or old, rich or
poor, fortunate or unfortunate) and morality (i.e., whether a person is just or unjust,
reasonable or unreasonable).
• To establish guilt, the forensic speaker needs to establish motivation for doing wrong. In
speaking before an audience, then, speakers will invoke what Aristotle called the “moral
habits” of a person.
• Epideictic speaking cannot be separated from ethos, Aristotle stated.
o He believed that by understanding the need to praise or blame, epideictic speakers
understand the importance of their own character.
• Epideictic speaking is greatly informed by the study of virtues or values.
o The epideictic speaker must be able to relate the virtues of the topic to a diverse
audience.
o Aristotle felt that courage and justice ranked above all virtues, but virtue is defined
according to the law of the land.
• Epideictic rhetoric is exemplified in funeral practices in the United States.
• Eulogies, which are commonplace at many funerals, usually laud the life of the deceased.
• The third type is deliberative rhetoric, also called political rhetoric, and it was the focus of
much of Aristotle’s comments on rhetorical discourse.
• Deliberative rhetoric is associated with the future—what an audience will do or think as a
result of a speaker’s efforts
o Today’s, list of deliberative topics might include health insurance, taxes,
relationships, education, and civil rights.
• Larry Arnhart (1981) comments that the deliberative rhetorician needs to know not only
the actual subject of deliberation but also the elements of human nature that influence
deliberation.
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West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
o This approach elicited personal identification, which is an important tactic in
deliberative speaking.
VII. Integration, Critique, and Closing
A. Logical Consistency
• Aristotle has been criticized for contradiction and incoherence.
• Although Aristotle encourages speakers to avoid focusing on emotions while making
their points, he proceeds to do just that when he stresses the importance of presenting
precise ways so that audiences (readers) would have a broader understanding of
his words and ideas.
• The logical consistency is further challenged by an examination of how Aristotle views
the audience.
o Jasper Neel (1994) states, “Aristotle makes clear that the introduction [of a
speech] has nothing to do with the ‘speech itself.’ It exists only because of the
hearer’s weak–minded tendency to listen to what is beside the point” (p. 156).
o Eugene Ryan (1984) is more blunt: “Aristotle is thinking of listeners who have
some difficulty keeping their minds on the speaker’s business, are easily
distracted, tend to forget what has gone on before, [and] are not absorbed with
abstract ideas” (p. 47).
B. Heurism
• Aristotle’s Rhetoric is one of the most heuristic theories found in communication.
• No other theory in the communication discipline has withstood the test of time as well
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education.
as Aristotle’s Rhetoric.
• With centuries behind it and public speaking textbooks, teachers, and researchers
communicating Aristotelian principles, it’s hard to believe that any other theory in the
field of communication will ever achieve such longevity!
Classroom Activities
1. Identify the Target Audience and Aristotelian Proof
Objective: To have students recognize how ads target specific audiences and how
Aristotelian proofs are used in print ads
Materials: Various newspaper and magazine ads
Directions:
2. Give several print ads to each group.
3. Have each group identify the target audience of each ad and how ethos, logos, and/or
pathos emerge from it.
4. As the moderator of the activity, encourage students to consider the following
questions:
• Who is primarily shown in the ad?
• Is the ad dominated by text or by visuals?
• Are metaphors used in the ad?
• What emotional appeals are used in the ad?
2. Identify the Syllogism
1. Provide students with the text of a public speech or play a video/audio recording of a
public speech.
3. Remind students that it is often easier to identify syllogisms by first identifying the
conclusion and working backward to the major or minor premises.
4. If you show a tape, pause it periodically so that students can collect their thoughts.
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
3. Ethics and Public Speaking
Objective: To encourage students to examine the relationship between ethics and public
speaking
Materials: None
Directions:
2. Have students share their ethical statements with the class.
4. Becoming a Savvy Consumer of Rhetoric, Public Relations, and Cause Marketing
Objective: To have students examine subtle rhetorical strategies
Materials: None required (A videotape of the nightly news—especially local news—or a
newspaper may be helpful.)
Directions:
1. Begin with a discussion of public relations and cause marketing. Explain how these
strategies are persuasive and rooted in Aristotle’s rhetorical strategies. Discuss the
ways people are subjected to subtle forms of persuasion in their daily lives.
2. Divide students into small groups. If there are materials, distribute them. If there is a
video clip, show it before breaking into groups.
3. In small groups, ask students to make a list of news stories that subtly persuade them
5. Theory Application in Groups
Objective: To have students incorporate the concepts of rhetorical theory in their own
persuasive speeches
Materials: None
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education.
Directions:
1. Considering the canon of arrangement, ask students to make an outline for a speech
on why the university should keep tuition costs low. Encourage students to share
their outlines with the class and to explain why they chose that structure.