“The duty of Rhetoric is to apply Reason to
Imagination for the better moving of the will.”
-
Francis Bacon
From the Middle Ages
to the Renaissance Era to modern day, the characterization and purposefulness
of rhetoric motivated continuous debate in consideration of its functionality
within disparate areas of study, including art, science, and philosophy, as
well as the role of rhetoric in
politics, particularly speech writing. Early
evaluators worked diligently to determine the value, if any, of rhetoric in
verbal and written communication. Arduous research, innovative documentation,
and elaborate explanations formed collaborative definitions of the term, as
fathers of philosophical thinking emphasized an assigned meaning of rhetoric.
Corax of Syracuse,
founder of the art of rhetoric, instituted eloquent language as a method of
engaging story telling – comprised of an introduction, an argument or proof,
and a conclusion – established for citizens representing themselves within the
legal system, and based on the perception that information presented could not
be proven as absolute certainty (12). Later Plato accepted rhetoric to be
grounded in philosophy, dejecting the untruths in place of well-established
proofs. Aristotle classified rhetoric for its means of persuasion in regards to
a particular case, a derivative of Plato’s definition, accomplished through the
interworking of style, organization, and delivery (14).
Cicero believed that
rhetoric was an integration of natural ability, comprehensive knowledge of
liberal arts. According to Cicero, rhetoric was a learned skill only achievable
in the course of formal instruction, giving weight on the importance of
education during the Middle Ages (15). Peter Ramus placed less emphasis on the
rubric of logic and sought to prove rhetoric to encompass only style and
delivery (16); Francis Bacon gathered rhetoric to contain a notion of
rationality; and George Campbell expressed it in terms or sensory stimulation,
common sense, and intuitive sense shared but all humans (17).
There were countless
scholars of the art of rhetoric following those intellectual minds; yet,
commonalities overlapped. One thinker builds upon or revitalizes an idea
manufactured by a rhetoric analyst before him. A thorough understanding of
rhetoric is, within itself, complex prior to additions made by individual
contributors. Conceptualizations become repetitive in nature and definition.
Rhetoric is art.
Rhetoric is communication. Rhetoric is presentation. Rhetoric engages audiences
to believe, or at the least, consider messages delivered by its writer,
speaker, designer, instructor, political representative, and so on. Rhetoric
responds to questions and convinces. It motivates a discussion, exhibits power,
and empowers presenters and audiences though words, phrases, and even body
language and expressions. Rhetoric engrosses the imagination and leaves more to
be imagined due to its creative impact. It teaches logic and defines turning
points, delivering audiences from the commencement to the center to the margins
of an event. Rhetoric is innate and a learned skill.
How is rhetoric
defined? To integrate determinations conceived by originators of the study of
rhetoric: simply, yet, elaborately put, rhetoric is a means of relaying visual,
verbal, and written information to a critical and decision-making audience,
encompassing elocution, presentation, logic, truths, and creativity to form an
expressive art of communication.
