Exam 4: Aristotle on Rhetoric

Aristotle claimed that the art of rhetoric was built on a type of argument he termed the enthymeme. He also held that rhetoric involved the study of three artistic proofs, and that rhetoric could be divided into three general categories according to the settings in which it occurred and the issues that it addressed. Explain Aristotle's understanding of the enthymeme. What distinguishes an enthymeme from other sorts of arguments, such as the syllogism of dialectic? Identify and briefly describe Aristotle's three artistic proofs. What are the various types of settings, and the kinds of issues with which each deals?

Plato defined rhetoric saying, "Rhetoric is the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." Aristotle's Rhetoric is largely a counterargument against this definition.

Which type of oratory does Aristotle say deals with questions of justice, evaluates actions of the past, employs accusations or defense, and is usually delivered by lawyers in a court room?

Plato defined rhetoric at one point as "the art of influencing the soul through words," while his student Aristotle defined the same art as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." Identify and explain the common concerns and the major differences of Plato and Aristotle regarding the art of rhetoric.

Provide the term for the following definitions: -A rhetorical syllogism, or a rhetorical argument based on a premise shared by speaker and audience.

Aristotle called rhetoric the counterpart (antistrophos) of dialectic. In what ways are the two arts similar, and how are they different?

Greeks during Aristotle's time did not make a sharp distinction between reason and emotion, causing Aristotle to see emotions not as irrational impediments to decision-making, but instead as rational responses to certain circumstances.

Aristotle believed that both rhetoric and dialectic began with endoxa, or widely accepted ideas.

What role does Jeffrey Walker find that epideictic discourse played in ancient Greece?

For Aristotle, how are rhetoric and dialectic similar, and how are they different?

How is Aristotle's view of rhetoric different from Plato's?

Identity and briefly present the four reasons Aristotle found rhetoric useful.