Aristotle's Defense of Rhetoric

Aristotelian Rhetoric, Pluralism, and Public Administration

“…One often uses the term rhetoric to describe inflammatory speech that is meant to win the public over to some cause through incitement, fear, or anger. Rhetoric, however, was subject to these same criticisms in Aristotle's time as well as our own (Nichols, 1987). In The Clouds (1994), for example, Aristophanes accused those who use rhetoric of attempting to subvert In The Clouds, Aristophanes portrayed Socrates as an amoral Sophist who teaches men to cheat through the use of rhetoric.…”

“…However, in a later work, Phaedrus (1999b), Plato did lay out what he saw as the requirements for a true art of rhetoric by finding, in part, that it can only involve private speech, because public speech does not take into account the differences between men. Nichols (1987) has argued that Aristotle's treatise, On Rhetoric, can be seen as a defense of rhetoric against the attacks made by Plato and Aristophanes. Contrary to the charge that rhetoric subverts what Aristophanes called "established social beliefs," Nichols argued that the Aristotelian conception of rhetoric subordinates itself to "commonly held opinions about what is good, noble, and just" (1987, p. 660). She pointed out, however, that, according to Aristotle, the rhetorician must move beyond common opinion, because "common opinion is not homogeneous," and is "composed of a diversity of elements, which may be in contradiction with one another" (Nichols, 1987, p. 660).…”

“…(1991, 2.1.3) The use of rhetoric, then, encourages administrators to assert their own values but also to pay attention to the values of their audiences and to seek ways in which these different values can be accommodated with each other. As Nichols (1987) has argued, "By incorporating the various truths embodied in common opinions into a more comprehensive point of view, the rhetorician . .…”

Nobility and Necessity: The Problem of Courage in Aristotle’s

“…Much has been written on the rhetorical aspects of Aristotle's political and moral teaching (Ambler 1985;Nichols 1987;Tessitore 1996). 21 My previous discus- 19 My point here runs counter to that of Salkever (1986, 252), who argues that the problematic character of Aristotle's account of courage indicates an attack on the ancient Greek idea of political virility and is meant to blur the distinction between public and private things.…”

A candidate's use of aggressive communication and the electorates' response: Predicting presidential election outcomes

“…Enthymemes are constructed to include common opinions about advantage, justice, and nobility along with the passions of men and the elements that form their character (Nichols, 1987). Guerrero and Dionisopoulos (1990) believed that enthymemes are undoubtedly effective because the audience members are the ones who fill in the missing pieces, therefore the logic makes sense to them.…”