Rhetoric Midterm Exam

• Education is the process of teaching or being
• taught about a certain subject and gaining knowledge about that subject. This
• is important to Rhetoric because when teaching rhetoric you can make someone
• better at rhetoric and with that you give them power but it can be difficult
• because you might give them power but they might use that power in and
• unethical way so you have to teach them ethics also which is very hard to do.

• Knowledge is what we know and the nature of it
• is how we know these things. Absolute truth is something that cant be argued
• because if you could argue it it wouldn’t be absolute. Truth and knowledge are
• important in the study of rhetoric because we use rhetoric to convince others
• of our truth and the more knowledge we have the less Rhetoric we can have in
• this world because if everyone knew truth we wouldn’t need rhetoric

• Power is the thing you can have over someone or over
• something. This is important to rhetoric because rhetoric is always about
• power. It is about gaining power over someone but also when you learn rhetoric
• you can use that power to take back the power that someone has over you. It is
• about getting power, overcoming power, maintaining power…

• Language is what you use to voice your thought,
• opinions, knowledge and anything else you want to say. It is important to
• rhetoric because it is the tool used to do rhetoric. Language makes up our
• world and through language we create stereotypes opinions, cultural norms and
• so much more.

• Ethos is the ethics and credibility used in
• speeches writings and everyday life. In rhetoric according to Aristotle you
• have to establish ethos using good sense and good will. You have to show you
• have wisdom on the topic and also you have to show the audience you care about
• them and you care about the topic. Doing so you establish ethos, or ethics and
• credibility among your audience.

• Logos is the logic you have in your speeches, writings and
• everyday conversations. In Rhetoric according to Aristotle you use logos to
• make sure what you are saying makes sense. You can do this through examples
• also known as rhetorical induction or enthymemes also known as rhetorical
• syllogism, a type of deduction.

• Pathos is the emotions of the speeches, writings and
• conversations you have in everyday life. In rhetoric according to Aristotle you
• have to use pathos to draw upon your audiences emotions and help bring them
• into your topic of discussion.

• Flattery is according to Plato a fake art, pretending to be
• something that it isn’t and devises to be something of the highest value but
• really has bad intentions and doesn’t care about the best in the situation.
• This is important to rhetoric because when a person is teaching rhetoric on a
• subject that is flattery it doesn’t speak to the soul or body and in a sense
• makes the soul unhealthy and less likely to fly towards the heavens

• Divine madness according to Plato is love and it
• a madness sent from the Gods and love out of all divine madness’s like rituals
• and poetry is ranked high about all of them. This is important in the study of
• rhetoric because every time you see someone and get drawn into that divine
• madness your soul is at risk and rhetoric is the art that moves your soul just
• like love does so every moment matters for your souls sake.

• According to Plato in “Gorgias” he see the power
• of speech as something that can make your audience either moral and happy
• people or the opposite and therefore they will have sick souls and when faced
• in the heavens will be looked down upon. This is extremely important to
• rhetoric because if the speaker doesn’t know that he is affecting so many
• people and the future of their lives then they should not have the right to
• speak. If the speaker is aware and uses knowledge in his rhetoric then he is a
• noble rhetorer. People are so naive and can be persuaded to do just about
• anything by a speaker so the power of speech is one of the most important
• things to consider when using rhetoric.

• Gorgias was a sophist and one of the most famous and best
• sophists in Greece.
• He was a foreigner and believed there was no absolute truth. He is very important to the
• study of rhetoric because he was a teacher in rhetoric and believed that
• rhetoric was the art of persuasion in the realm of belief, meaning that when
• using rhetoric you could persuade people to believe things that might not be
• true.

• Polus was a young man in Greece who on
• at least one occasion discussed with Socrates, Gorgias and some other men about
• the subject of rhetoric. He was very strong headed and tried to take on
• Socrates in “Gorgias” about what rhetoric is after Gorgias had given up. He is
• important to the study of rhetoric because in “Gorgias” he is who probes
• Socrates about what he thinks rhetoric is and it leads into the very important
• discussion on false arts and then later the soul.

• Callicles is the oldest of the men discussing
• rhetoric in “Gorgias”. He is by far the most hard headed and really challenges
• Socrates on the topic. He is important in the study of rhetoric because he is
• the person who leads Socrates into his long and final speech about truth justice and right living.

• Socrates was a very well known man in Greece. He is a
• famous teacher and was well known for always asking why, and never giving up.
• He is important to rhetoric because he is the person who brought up the fact of
• rhetoric being a sham art unless used with truth. He believes in absolute truth
• and believes that’s the only way to live a right life.

• Phaedrus is the man that gets into a flirtatious
• conversation with Socrates about love. He is important to the study of rhetoric
• because he is who prompts Socrates to discuss transcendent truths and how the
• Ideals that are in the heavens.

• Lysias is a speech writer who is also the guardian of
• Phaedrus. He brings up the topic of the lover and the non lover in a speech
• presented by Phaedrus and is important to rhetoric because this brings up the
• speech that Socrates gives and we find that good rhetoric needs to not only be
• true but also have good form.

• The rhetoric is a book written by Aristotle and discusses
• that rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic. This book is important to the
• study of rhetoric because it shows the difference between Aristotle and Plato
• and their views on Rhetoric so it gives you another point of view.

• Antidosis” is a book written by Isocrates and it discusses the power of
• speech and how it has helped us shape every institution we have. It is
• important to the study of rhetoric because it shows that rhetoric is one of the
• most important tools a person can learn because it has been so influential to
• the culture we live in.

• “Against the Sophists” is a book written by Isocrates about sophists
• and how they preach that if people cone and learn from them that they will
• become super powerful. He states how even though he is a sophist he is not like
• them because he just clams to do the best he can do and to make them the best
• he can make them. This is important to rhetoric because it points out the skepticisms
• about rhetoricians and also points out the problems in trying to gain absolute
• certainty because if we wait to know if things are certain we will be waiting
• forever.

• “Gorgias” is a dialogue written by Plato about the discussion Socrates has
• with Gorgias and some other men about what rhetoric is. This is important to
• the study of rhetoric because Socrates in this is always asking why and when it
• comes to the conclusion and all men have agreed on what rhetoric is readers can
• be pretty certain that the truth has been stated because they have all finally
• agreed.

• “Phaedrus” is a dialogue written by Plato about a
• conversation Socrates has with Phaedrus about love and life. This is Important
• to the study of rhetoric because in this dialogue we see the impact that
• rhetoric has on our soul and how every moment we live our soul is at risk.

• “Encomium of Helen” is a speech given by Gorgias to praise Helen
• and explain why she isn’t to blame. This is important to the study of rhetoric
• because we see the power of rhetoric and see how powerful language can be.

• Idealism is when you believe that the truth
• resides in the ideas. They are non-material, non-concrete and you can’t see
• them; Ideas such as God. This is important to the study of rhetoric because we
• need to realize that when we see things they aren’t the ideals we see in heaven
• and we shouldn’t be persuaded to think that they are.

• An example is one of the 2 kinds of logos as
• explained by Aristotle. It is rhetorical in
• rhetoric. It is important to the study of rhetoric because we have to
• understand it and be able to use it in order to create logic in our speeches or
• any form of rhetoric.

• Enthymemes are they other type of logos as explained my
• Aristotle. It is rhetorical syllogism or a type of deduction, broad to specific
• reasoning don’t in rhetoric. This is important to the study of rhetoric because
• we have to be able to understand and use it in order to create logic in all forms
• of rhetoric.

• Deliberative is one of the 3 kinds of speeches that
• Aristotle talks about. It is speeches about the future. This is important to
• the study of rhetoric because we need it to make decisions about what we should
• do and whether or not it will work considering the situation.

• Epideictic speech is another type of speech that Aristotle
• talks about. It is speech of judgment praise or blame about the present time.
• This is important to the study of rhetoric because it judges us based on out
• communal norms and values and makes us aware of whom society thinks we should
• be in terms of values.

• Forensic speech is the last type of speech that Aristotle
• talks about. It is speech about the past and about an event and whether or not
• it was justified. This is important to the study of rhetoric because it is
• asking the audience to make decisions about justice and right and wrong.

• Topic/Topos is a line or form of reasoning. This is
• important to the study of rhetoric because it is the arguments you make in your
• speeches.

• Special topics are they arguments you make in
• specific speeches that only work in that speech. They are important to the
• study of rhetoric because we have them in all speeches but they are different
• to each topic.

• General topics are argument you can make in any
• speech. They are important to the study of rhetoric because we might use them
• in one speech and later use them in another so they need to be well understood.

• Ability is one of the tools Isocrates discusses about
• becoming a better speaker. It is important to the study of rhetoric with it you
• have the tool to make good decisions in life.

• Practice according to Isocrates is another tool to become a
• better speaker. It is important to the study of rhetoric with it you have the
• tool to make good decisions in life.

• Wisdom is making best possible decisions even though they
• might turn out wrong. This is important to the study of rhetoric because even
• if you make decisions that are wise and they turn out bad its okay because we
• can’t predict the future.

• Dialectic according to Aristotle is a method or procedure for producing or
• creating knowledge. This is important to the study of rhetoric because
• Aristotle believes that rhetoric and dialectic work together to form the best
• possible knowledge we can know.
• According to Plato this is important to the study of rhetoric because
• rhetoric is what transports dialectic to the audience but rhetoric is not
• producing knowledge so we need dialectic to do that.

• Contingent truth is dependent truth so it can’t be absolute.
• This is important to the study of rhetoric because it comes to the best
• possible knowledge we can have over very specific questions but it is never
• absolute.

• Your soul is the immortal part of our bodies that is in
• constant motion. This is important to the study of rhetoric because if we use bad
• rhetoric we are putting our souls at stake. They are always trying to fly
• towards the heavens but when bad rhetoric is used they head back down towards
• earth and when we are faced in the heavens at the end of our lives our souls
• are what will be judged.

Kairos is used to search for relative truth, but is dependent on the moment or the situation. Kairos is important to the art of rhetoric especially to the sophists because they would plan their search for the truth around particular situations and events.

• Artistic proofs are the proofs made in the
• speech itself through the language. They are important to rhetoric because when
• using rhetoric you are trying to persuade some one by demonstration and in
• order to demonstrate something you need proof.

• In-Artistic Proofs are proofs brought from the
• outside into your speech but they aren’t created. They are important to
• rhetoric because when using rhetoric you are trying to persuade some one by
• demonstration and in order to demonstrate something you need proof.

• Sham arts according to Plato are the things in your life
• that try to convince you that the wrong things are right. They are based on
• belief. Sham arts are important to rhetoric because bad rhetoric when used not
• in the realm of truth is a sham art and is putting your soul in a sick state.

• Sophists are teachers in rhetoric that go to students and
• claim that they can make them all mighty and powerful by teaching them
• rhetoric. They are important to the study of rhetoric because they are the
• teachers that teach rhetoric and many of them don’t teach the truth but rather
• belief and are in a sense making a corrupt society that believe the wrong
• things.

Isocrates argues against other sophists that there is no science of the future. In other words, he disagrees with Plato that there is an absolute truth, and in this regard, his beliefs are similar to Aristotle's. Aristotle also believes that there are some things for which there is no probable knowledge.

• Justice is the medicine of your soul according
• to Plato. It is what you need to face in order to take your sick soul and make
• it healthy. It is important to the study of rhetoric because when bad rhetoric
• is used you must face justice in order to make your soul healthy again.

• Beauty is the thing on earth that we see and reminds our
• soul of the ideal beauty that is in the heavens that it once saw. This is
• important to the study of rhetoric because we so often want to give into the
• beauty we see but we must resist to make our souls better.

• Truth is the absolute knowledge we acquire from the use of
• good rhetoric. It is important to the study of rhetoric because it is the only
• way according to Plato to practice rhetoric. Truth is the only knowledge that
• should be taught.

• Aspasia is a foreign woman in Greece
• that gets involved with one of the most important political leaders in Athens, Pariclese. She
• only exists to us through the writings of others and so our knowledge of her is
• very vague. She is important to the study of rhetoric because being a foreigner
• she should have had little to no power in Greece so she helps us realize the
• power rhetoric has in a society.

A Maxim is a general statement with in an enthymeme. It is a conclusion of rhetorical argument according to Aristotle.

love of wisdom vs. persuading of wisdom

Undisputable knowledge-math, physics, gravity etc.

Belief, Morals