The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Rhetoric

Rhetoric: The art of persuasion through speaking and writing; one of the seven major medieval subjects of study (and, more specifically, part of the trivium, the other two members of which were logic and grammar). Such well-known classical writers as Aristotle, a fourth-century B.C. Greek philosopher, stressed the importance of the rhetorical arts, which in ancient times were seen as essential to effective argumentation and oratory. Classical theorists identified five components of rhetoric: (1) invention (the argument itself or its supporting evidence); (2) disposition (the arrangement of that evidence); (3) style (diction, patterns, images, rhythms of speech, etc.); (4) memory; and (5) delivery. They also identified three types of rhetoric: (1) deliberative (to persuade toward a course of action regarding public policy); (2) epideictic (to praise or blame, thereby demonstrating the rhetorical skill of the orator); and (3) forensic (to establish through a forum-like setting — such as a court of law — either a positive or negative opinion of someone’s actions).

Since classical and medieval times, rhetoric has acquired negative connotations, most of which are associated with its inherent neutrality toward truth and falsehood and the ensuing possibility that it may be used to promote lies or immorality. Used pejoratively, rhetoric connotes empty rhetoric — language that sounds good but is insubstantial or even deliberately distorting.