Aristotle’s Rhetoric as an Enhancement of Practical Reasoning
Keywords:
Rhetoric, dialectic, practical reasoning, truth, verisimilitude, contingencyAbstract
Aristotle’s account of rhetoric goes beyond its previous consideration as an art of persuasion to be regarded as a suitable logic for human affairs. In the realm of ethics and politics, he needs to appeal to a logic that can deal with contingency without discarding the concept of truth. I claim that the double rapport of rhetoric with dialectic and ethical-political issues links public discourse with the question of rationality and practical truth. I will start with a brief overview of two passages of the Rhetoric that account for the liaison of rhetoric with dialectic. Secondly, I consider two contributions that rhetoric theory makes to the enhancement of the rationality of ethics. Lastly, I will reflect on the relationship of rhetorical discourse with practical truth.
References
Aristotle. (1935). Eudemian Ethics. (H. Rackham, Trans.). Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Aristotle. (1926). Nicomachean Ethics. (H. Rackham, Trans.). Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Aristotle. (1894). Ethica Nicomachea. (J. Bywater, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1932). Politics. (H. Rackham, Trans.). Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Aristotle. (1926). Art of Rhetoric. (J.H. Freese, Trans). Cambridge and London: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1959). Ars Rhetorica. (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1935). Metaphysics. (H. Tredennick, Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Aristotle. (1924). Metaphysics. (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1963). Topica et Sophistici Elenchi, (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1968). Analytica Priora et Posteriora, (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1956). De Anima, (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle. (1957). Politica. (W. D. Ross, Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ballacci G. (2018). Political Theory between Philosophy and Rhetoric. Rhetoric, Politics and Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cope, E. M. (2006). The Rhetoric of Aristotle with a Commentary. (J.E. Sandys, Ed.). Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag.
Garver, E. (2017). Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Theory and Practice. In M. J. MacDonald (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies (pp. 133-142). Oxford: University Press.
Garver, E. (1995). Aristotle’s Rhetoric. An Art of Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Green, L.D. (1990), Aristotelian Rhetoric, Dialectic, and the Traditions of ?????????????. Rhetorica, 8, 1990, p. 5-27.
Grimaldi, W.M.A. (1980/1988). Aristotle, Rhetoric I-II. A Commentary. New York: Fordham University Press.
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1971). A history of Greek philosophy. Volume 3: The Fifth Century Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heidegger, M. (2002). Grundbegriffe der aristotelischen Philosophie (GA 18), Frankfurt a. M.: Vittorio Klostermann.
Nussbaum, M. (1996). Aristotle on Emotions and Rational Persuasion In Oksenberg-Rorty, A. (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s Rhetoric (pp. 303-322). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Plato. (1967). Gorgias. In Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 3 (W.R.M. Lamb, Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Plato. (1925). Phaedrus.In Plato in Twelve VolumesVol. 9 (H. N. Fowler, Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rapp, Ch. (2002). Aristoteles. Rhetorik, 2 vol., Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Rapp, Ch. (2016). Dialectic and Logic from a Rhetorical Point of View. In J.-G. Gourinat et J. Lemaire (Ed.). Logique et dialectique dans l’Antiquite? (pp. 161-191). Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin.
Solmsen, F. (1929). Die Entwicklung der aristotelischen Logik und Rhetorik. Berlin: Weidmann.
Spranzi, M. (2011). The Art of Dialectic Between Dialogue and Rhetoric: The Aristotelian Tradition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Eidos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term "Work" shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
The Author shall grant to the Publisher a nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons 3.0 License Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported CC BY-NC 3.0, or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions: (a) Attribution: Other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;(b) Noncommercial: Other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
5. Authors are permitted, and Eidos promotes, to post online the preprint manuscript of the Work in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work is expected be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Eidos's assigned URL to the Article and its final published version in Eidos.
