Why Rhetoric Still Matters
Discourse | Erec Smith
In the first of what will be two essays, Erec Smith discusses the importance of rhetoric. In this first essay, Smith focuses on the development of rhetoric and debates over its proper uses.
“Rhetoric’s comeback cannot have come at a better time,” he argues. “In 21st-century America, the eclecticism of values, attitudes and beliefs makes it all the more important that we convey these things as clearly as possible to each other.”
Smith covers Plato, Aristotle, and the Sophists’ ideas of rhetoric, crediting Aristotle with “the first succinct—and probably most cited—definition of rhetoric in Western literature: the ability, in any given situation, to discern the available means of persuasion.”
In addition to the history, Smith hints at why rhetoric matters today: “To effectively influence our words and defend ourselves against the words of others, one must study and master the tools of persuasion….[Today’s] tribalism—the tendency to associate only with those who share similar values, attitudes and beliefs—may very well be the result of a lack of rhetorical know-how.”
In a second essay, Smith will explain why this ancient art is more relevant than ever. We will post the essay once published.
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