Reflection #16 Rhetoric

Samantha Clarke
Reflection #16 Rhetoric

The interest of education emerged as the center of attraction was the excitement of learning Greek. The ability to speak Greek was the essence of showing off. Education was bilingual then and learning took place abstractly and through enunciation. Rhetoric is rather the use of the art of language to persuade a listener. The Romans adapted the rhetorician tradition from the Greeks and hence centered their education on such. It is a process that follow such techniques of debate where a statement is proposes after which a series of persuasive argument proceed. Rhetoric was almost like a fashion or a fancy play on words which would often seems misleading and or viewed as fable.

Rhetoric was imported from Greece and was used to give style and sophistication to the spoken and written language. Adults became rather fascinated with rhetoric which later became declamation. This popularity dominated schools and transformed the written word. Though popular and seemingly intellectual, rhetoric was rejected by Plato and Socrates as been unintellectual and without substance. Contrary to the remonstrates of Socrates and Plato, some sophist such as Isocrates encourage rhetoric and believe that it hold a rather emancipated and civilizing effects.

After passing through the Greeks to the Romans and then taken over by the Christian era, rhetoric became diluted and rather famished. The Christians however embrace the use of rhetoric not in the Dionysus form but rather in a less secular way to bring across the written work in a more persuasive fashion. After been deprived of its real use, rhetoric became alive once more through the appreciation and use of metaphor in the twentieth century. This is now know as the new rhetoric. Rhetoric in education aided the use of language, the play on words were were of great importance but when used correctly can be viewed as an intellectual way of presenting information. High officials such as layers and government personnel became a living testimony of the use of rhetoric. Students were taught how to deliver well written speech with more emphasis on enunciation. When used correctly, rhetoric argument can lead to greater truth. It is a useful tool today for lawyers and many public speakers.