The Art of Public Speaking, The Art of Writing or Speaking Effectively Rhetoric The Art of Public Speaking, The Art of Writing or Speaking Effectively

The History of Rhetoric As defined by Aristotle, rhetoric is that branch of discourse that concerns persuasion. The Greek word “rhetor” means “speaker in the assembly.” In ancient times, rhetoric was concerned with the practice of oratory or formal public speaking. In modern times, rhetoric is the study of speaking or writing memorably and effectively.

The History of Rhetoric (continued) The Origins of Rhetoric This art is said to have originated with Corax of Syracuse and his pupil Tisias in Greece during the first quarter of the 5th century BC in response to the citizens’ need for help in pleading their own cases in court for the restoration of their property, which had been confiscated by the tyrant Thrasybulus. Aristotle’s On Rhetoric (330 BC), the oldest extant complete text on the subject, contains most of the concepts and principles that informed education in rhetoric and oratory for the next 2,000 years. His classifications follow on the next three slides.

Three Means of Persuasion LOGOS The appeal to reason, logic Facts, statistics, and ways of ordering of the content [such as chronology, cause/effect, compare/contrast, or simple listing] appeal to our need for logic and reasonable arguments PATHOS The appeal to emotion, feelings Diction or word choices, especially loaded words, images, anecdotes, rhetorical and literary devices create an emotional connection between speaker and audience. ETHOS The appeal of the speaker himself or herself The delivery style of the speech, the appearance of the speaker and the speaker’s values and credibility all create the ethos of the speech.

3 Types of Persuasive Oratory Forensic or Judicial The oratory of the courtroom Its purpose: to determine the justice or injustice of a past action Its concern is the past. Deliberative The oratory of the public forum Its pupose: to move an audience to take or refrain from taking an action Its concern is the future. Epideictic The oratory of ceremony Its purpose: to praise or blame Its concern is the present moment.

Aristotle said that the study of rhetoric may be divided into five parts: Invention: the process of finding arguments for the speech Arrangement: the process of organizing the speech Style: the process of putting into words what has been discovered and arranged Memory: the techniques for memorizing the speech for oral presentation Delivery: the techniques for managing voice and gesture in the act of presenting the speech