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COMS 3312-Chapter 1-1
The Rhetorical Tradition
Chapter 1
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This chapter highlights some of the many rhetorical accomplishments from historical figures
in this academic discipline.
Earliest of rhetorical traditions emerged from ancient Greece.
The Romans refined and added to early rhetorical theory.
In order to fully understand the rhetorical traditions of a people; you must know the culture
of the country/people.
Communication flourishes in environments that honor and respect freedom of speech and
thought. It has never been intended to be a form of coercion in which choice is removed
from the audience. The great rhetorical communicators of the past and present use
communication in honorable, ethical ways to motivate, persuade, and influence of the
actions of others.
Early Writings—3000 B.C. oldest text on speaking; significance being that 5,000 years ago we
had some interest in communication and speaking. But for the most part, any real or
meaningful attempt at using communication like we use it today would have been scarce, at
best.
Greek Period—
 First works that of Corax ; “the art of rhetoric” designed to help the average person in
court. Tisias authored the first manual on public speaking. Both considered the first to
show how to organize a message and loosely suggested the elements of an introduction,
body, and conclusion.
 The term Sophists--modern day carries negative connotation of being deceitful but originally
was a teacher. They were possibly good people whose teachings were abused and resulted
in manipulative communication practices.
 Protagoras of Abdara—the father of debate taught that every issue has two sides and each
needs to be fairly debated. His concept of “commonplaces” is now days thoughts to a way
of using language or imagery that relates to and is adapted to your audience. Those
speakers who share such a commonplace with their audience tend to be much more
persuasive than those who do not.
 Leontini—rhetorician who recognized the importance of generating emotion in persuasion.
 Gorgias—contribution was to style and how language was to be used to create the desired
effect.
 Isocrates—perhaps even more important than Aristotle; highly ethical sophist; first to
recognize the value of a well-rounded education (liberal arts) for communicators.
 Plato—contribution focused on holding high standards of rhetorical communication;
substance was vital, not mere flattery. Served as Aristotle’s mentor.
 Aristotle—recognized as making the most significant contribution to rhetorical theory.
Became known in many circles as the Father of Speech Communication. Addressed the role
of speaker, audience, and the speech, itself in his text known as Rhetoric. Argued that
proofs are based on ethos, pathos, and logos. Also is provided the foundation for the five
canons of rhetoric upon which fundamental speech criticism rests: invention, disposition
(arrangement), style, delivery, and memory. His theory of persuasion centered on the
belief that absolute truth is unobtainable so all arguments must be based on probabilities.
And that such probability depended upon knowing your audience (adaptation) so you decide
COMS 3312-Chapter 1-2
what evidence to present. Finally, he claimed rhetoric was amoral; could be used or
abused; but unethical people are less likely to be successful that moral people. In short,
much of his theory is still the foundation in communication principles today.
The Roman Period—
 The book called Rhetorica ad Herennium was significant from this era due to its focus on
the style, delivery, and memory canons of rhetoric. While it was not heavy in theory as
we know it, it did serve somewhat of a handbook or a “how to” booklet for speech
giving. Critics called it overly simple, but it appeared to be widely used by Roman
orators.
 Cicero—best known not for developing new rhetorical theories, but rather for refining
and clarifying those developed by the Greeks. Also believed that communicators needed
extensive knowledge to be effective; proponent of a liberal arts approach. His views
were widely embraced by those of this period in history. To the best of our knowledge,
Cicero was later murdered by the order of Roman emperor Octavian since he was
thought to be loyal to Marc Antony.
 Quintilian—second only to Cicero in influence. A teacher of rhetoric; supporter of the
element of ethos for speakers, with his oft quoted phrase “a good man speaking well”
meaning that the audience needs to perceive the speaker as credible and trustworthy.
His contribution was more practical—the teacher’s concern for his student.
 The Romans coined the term “decorum”—meaning character-based agreeability. It
means to fit in, to be suitable for your audience. In argument, as in evolution, survival
belongs to the fittest. It follows the audience’s rules; not your own. Decorum tells your
audience, “Do as I say and as I do.” The speaker should sound like the collective voice
of his or her audience. To show proper decorum, the speaker should act the way the
audience expects them to act. Which means you don’t necessarily look and sound just
like your audience. You look, speak, dress, and behave like a person in your position is
expected to behave. Even though the Romans arrived at this conclusion thousands of
years ago, we have many self-help books that advance the same argument today. Be
prepared to fail in persuasion over and over again if you ignore this concept. In short,
you cannot be indecorous and persuasive at the same time. The two are mutually
exclusive.
3rd Century to the Renaissance—
 The school of rhetoric had split into two streams; sophist and political. The political
school of thought was more practical in its application but was overshadowed by the
Sophists and consequently faded away.
 Augustine was perhaps the only significant name of this era. Ideas centered on how
preachers should address or impact their congregations; use of persuasion rather than
overly flamboyant language.
Essentially rhetoric marched in placed until the
Renaissance when further development occurred.
The Renaissance—
 Key name was Sir Francis Bacon; implying that rhetoric is a function of applying reason
to our imaginations; he also included writing as part of the rhetorical function (not just
speaking). One of earliest to recognize and stress the need to avoid faulty reasoning
errors through erroneous inferences. Maybe one the earliest psychologists.
COMS 3312-Chapter 1-3
The Colonial Period—
 Matter over manner or rather substance over form was recognized as critical for the
message’s success. Key name in this belief was Fenelon who advocated a natural
sense; that gestures should be a natural extension of speaking; not carefully scripted
and performed. The other side or the elocutionist movement believed that certain
natural laws governed humans and speaking behavior was part of those laws.
Consequently, gesturing should be taught in strict scientific fashion. This lead to a very
artificial system of gesturing yet still has small pockets of proponents even today. Now
days it is largely accepted that gesturing is a natural, human act and that know
formalized training is needed or even desired (Iverson).
 Other key names were: Campbell, who amongst other contributions, claimed that
rhetoric can “enlighten the understanding, please the imagination, move the passions,
or influence the will.” Blair believed that effective rhetoric was measured by good taste
and proper behavior by the speaker more than any response by the audience. Whateley
focused on the logical elements of rhetoric; emphasizing the need for speaker ethos that
can only be perceived by the audience. Adams, the first American rhetorician, but made
no
advances
in
the
field
beyond
his
political
contributions.
The 20th Century—
 Key names are James Winans…founded what was known as the Speech Communication
Association whose name evolved into the National Communication Association. Key
writings centered on delivery and proper conversational speaking style for public
address.
 Kenneth Burke was very influential in a variety of areas; perhaps foremost was his
emphasis on speaker identification with the audience. Not enough to merely analyze the
audience but vital for the speaker to address issues in a way that speaker-audience can
relate in a meaningful manner. Easier said than done. . Modern communication
theorist, Kenneth Burke, said in 1950 that ‘You persuade a man only insofar as you can
talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying
your ways with his.”
 The social science perspective began to take a predominate role; clearly a linkage was
emerging between the communication and psychology academic disciplines. And in the
latter part of this century rhetorical criticism began to branch into a variety of
perspectives ranging from post-modernists, to feminists, genre, fantasy theme analysis,
etc.
History in Perspective—
“The degree to which you are able to master intellectually the process of communication with
other human beings will be the degree to which you expand your potential to succeed as a
citizen of a Western society.” Historically, rhetoric has been written and influenced by white
males. That is in the process of changing as opportunities and education have opened up for a
much wider group of people. New questions will be asked and new perspectives have started
and will continue to be addressed.