Connect Anaximenes/Empedocles with Ancient Greek mythology and describe how their shared beliefs and behaviors contributed to the rise of rhetoric.
Most of us Americans remember the political shakers of our country’s history. For some it may be from personal memory. Maybe we were present for President Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall, or in Washington D.C. during Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision for the future. Or we remember hearing stories passed down from generation to generation about Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, or Benjamin Franklin’s wisdom during the Constitutional Convention. Those of us raised in church will definitely remember some of the powerful evangelists who would visit every now and then to breathe new life into our church. The same way that we have seen, remembered, or heard about famous rhetoricians, so did the men and women of Ancient Athens. To them, the names of Anaximenes, Empedocles, and Zeus were very well known. Rhetoric as we know it now became initially represented by Empedocles before the arrival of the more famous Greek philosophers. It will also be seen that rhetoric existed even before Empedocles in the oral mythological histories of gods and goddesses. In fact, the two points are very closely related and worked together to bring about the rise of rhetoric.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/empedocles/
Empedocles is the philosopher that acts as the starting point for many rhetoricians, and for good reason. He is likely the most well-known orator of his day, his name holding a connotation similar to that of a wizard, acting as the Gandalf of Ancient Greece. Beyond the power of his oratory, he was also a prominent politician in his home island of Acragas, as well as a physician, philosopher, and poet. He is responsible for two poems that we know of. There is debate on whether or not they were actually one poem, but because of their clear thematic differences, it is acceptable to view them as individual entities. The theories in these two poems, On Nature and Purifications. The theories discussed in these poems have been echoed by both Plato and Aristotle, whose rhetoric containing Empedoclean thought were once again referenced by later Greek commentators. Empedocles’ poem, On Nature, creates “an elegant balance” between Love and Strife (notice the capital letters). Aristotle credits this poem with being the first to actually define the four natural elements. Beyond the poetic beauty of the piece, however, one can see an early form of the enthymeme. Empedocles’ fundamental thesis was based on claims supported by the endoxa of Ancient Greece: “everything is composed of four material elements…moved by two opposing forces.” This would not have been much of a philosophical leap for the people of Greece considering that some of their greatest gods were in charge of these elements and responsible for these two forces. This will be discussed later, however. The important part here is that Empedocles has the grasp of a rhetorical characteristic that had not been explicitly named until Aristotle. For those critics who claim that written rhetoric is not rhetoric, therefore the argument for Empedocles is irrelevant should be pointed to Isocrates. Isocrates was a rival of Plato who made his rhetorical impact by writing rather than speaking.
Using some of the ground roles for rhetoric laid out by Herrick in Chapter One, it can be proved that Empedocles was indeed the individual responsible for the birth of rhetoric.
Another rhetorical tradition used by both Empedocles and later philosophers was______________ insert another point here…as soon as I find one.
The clash between Love and Strife in On Nature and Purification is a battle that echoes almost directly from the stories of the wars among the gods. Even modern philosophers have made comparisons between Love and War on the modern battlefield, suggesting that the concept has been echoing in the human consciousness for millennia.
Conclusion
As it has been seen, the ancient Greek gods and goddesses were in essence the originators of the rhetoric emulated by Empedocles in his works. These same thoughts were then reflected in the writings of Plato and Aristotle.
