Classical Rhetoric

As rhetoric was introduced in Ancient Athens, it developed great meaning to the demos. Different rhetoricians and Sophists came through Ancient Athens spreading their very own theories of rhetoric. Aristotle, Gorgias, Socrates and Solon were only a few rhetoricians that played a substantial role in classical rhetoric. There were different definitions and types of rhetoric expressed through rhetoricians and their teachings. For example different types of rhetoric were necessary at different times. For ethical and strategic leadership the type of rhetoric needed was classical rhetoric. Although a reasonable person might think that only one facet of persuasion is required for leadership. The strongest leader utilizes all three means of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos, to influence a group toward the achievement of goals by providing direction.

If one wishes to persuade an audience, or lead people, one needs to establish credibility and authority. Ethos is where the rhetor is perceived by the audience as to be credible or not. Ethos is an important tool for a strategic leader to utilize in forming a strong connection with his followers. A rhetor could have the most logical or well thought out argument, but without an audience’s connection or trust all of his thought out reasoning will mean nothing. “For Aristotle, a speaker’s ethos consists of appearing knowledgeable about the topic he’s speaking about and being a man of good character. Aristotle and Cicero thought that a speaker could only appeal to his ethos within the speech itself and that an orator should spend the first part of his speech establishing his credibility.” (footnote) Isocrates disagreed with Aristotle and believed that the speaker should establish his credibility even before the speaker opened his mouth. Audiences or followers will naturally approach with some sense of suspicion until ethos is established. A speaker can use ethos in multiple ways. “First, you can simply begin your speech or text by referring to your credentials on the subject.” (Footnote) A speaker can discuss his previous achievements, awards, studies, and articles of speech. By providing background and establishing his expertise, a speaker is letting the audience know his status and connected with the audience’s trust. Second, “another powerful way to establish ethos with your audience is to find common ground with them.” (footnote) “We have a tendency to trust others that are like us. You can establish common ground by acknowledging shared values or beliefs. You can establish common ground by simply recognizing a shared history.” (footnote) Third, “Living a life of virtue is perhaps the best way to develop ethos.” (footnote) Followers and audiences will judge leaders on how one lives their life. As a reader may note ethos is important for a strategic leader to establish his credentials, establish a connection with his followers, and to earn respect from his audience.

As persuasion happens in our everyday life in almost everything, many seem to dismiss it. Pathos is where the rhetor attempts to persuade the audience by making them feel emotional. Pathos is an important tool for a strategic leader to draw his followers emotional connection. “In a battle between emotion and rationality, emotion usually wins, hands down.” (footnote) Emotion has the power to connect to people and persuade their feelings. For example, advertising has a way to arouse people’s emotions and persuade them into buying something or to support a cause. In most commercials advertisements don’t even have anything to do with the actual product. The commercials are used to arouse emotions and draw people in and connect with their commercial. Old Spice, Axe, Fruit loops, etc all use pathos in their commercials to arouse emotions. “Metaphors and storytelling are powerful tools of persuasion.” “You can also call upon several figures of speech that are designed to provoke an emotional response.” (footnote) Stories are very powerful by the connection with the audience by showing imagery to draw the audience into the story and connect with their emotions. There are also dozens of figures of speech that connect to emotions. A few include; antithesis, aposiopesis, conduplicatio, and energia. Antithesis is a “figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallel structure.” (footnote) Aposiopesis is “breaking off suddenly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray being overcome with emotion.” (footnote) Conduplicato is “the repetition of a word or words in adjacent phrases or clauses, either to amplify the thought or to express emotion.” (footnote) Energia is “the vigor with which one expresses oneself, can obviously be emotionally affecting.” (footnote) As a reader may note Pathos is important to a strategic leader because of the emotional appeal to his followers and his cause. This strategy of using emotional appeal unites the leader and his people.

Logos is a critical characteristic for the strategic leader. Logos explains how the rhetor persuades the audience by use of arguments that they will perceive as logical. Logos is an important tool for a strategic leader to persuade followers by factual statements drawn from the speaker’s knowledge. “Logos was the study of the arguments employed in practical decision making, and in particular of the enthymeme.” (Herrick 79) “Aristotle believed logos to be the superior persuasive appeal and that all arguments should be won or lost on reason alone. However, he recognized that at times an audience would not be sophisticated enough to follow arguments based solely on scientific and logical principles and so the other appeals needed to be used as well.” (footnote) Deductive reasoning is a way logos was usually represented by syllogisms. For example, all men like baseball, Mark is a man, therefore Mark likes baseball. In syllogistic arguments one needs to ensure they are sound. An argument is only sound when; the argument is valid and all of its premises are true. Determining whether a premise is true or not will depend on one’s knowledge and observations. “In The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle states that appealing to reason means allowing “the words of the speech itself” to do the persuading.” (footnote) In Rhetoric, Aristotle uses logos to refer to proofs available in words, arguments, or logic of a speech. “In Rhetoric he was more concerned with the ways people actually reason about public issues than with the logic of the dialectician.” (Herrick 79) In logos, rhetoricians use formal and informal logic. Formal logic is logic based on argument involving deductively necessary relationships and including the use of syllogisms and mathematical symbols. “In addition to formal logic, a rhetorician should be adept in informal logic… informal logic encompasses several disciplines from formal logic to psychology to help individuals think more critically about the input they receive every day.” (footnote) Informal logic composes a lot of fallacies which is a bad pattern of reasoning which to the audience appears to be good reasoning. As a reader may note, logos is important to a strategic leader because they would use persuasion through knowledge. A speaker will also use syllogisms to help an audience follow the reasoning more smoothly. This pattern of thought helps the speaker then persuade their followers to agree with the same view point.

Conclusion

Classical Rhetoric is

Works Cited

Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2009. Print.

McKay, Brett, and Kate McKay. “Classical Rhetoric: The Three Means of Persuasion | The Art of Manliness.” The Art of Manliness. N.p., 17 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.