Aristotle's Rhetoric of Anger and Calm
Aristotle is known to many students as a philosopher and the student of Plato, who was the student of Socrates. Maybe they know that he started academies of learning and maybe they associate him with not believing in democratic government. But most students do not learn about Aristotle's teachings in the art of rhetoric. Aristotle understood that "the orator must not only try to make the argument of his speech demonstrative and worthy of belief; he must also make his own character look right and put his hearers, who are to decide, into the right frame of mind" (Aristotle). He understood that not only character, ethos, but also logic, logos and emotion of the audience, pathos held important roles in persuasion. Rhetoricians would study his teachings from then on, and strategies used to persuade. One famous use will be explored later in the Mytilenian Debate between Cleon and Diodotus.
Aristotle explored many aspects of the art of rhetoric, but two in particular will be analyzed by my students, Aristotle's Rhetoric, Book II chapters 2 and 3 on anger and it's opposite calm. He points out that anger is an impulse that is caused by a feeling of slight. There are three types of slighting, contempt, spite, and insolence (Aristotle). Contempt or anger to do something unimportant, spite or anger to prevent something from someone, and insolence, or saying things that cause shame (Aristotle). This anger can cause one to act in vengeance, which will bring the revenged pleasure.
One can only be angry through slight, and one can only be slighted by those they respect. "A max expects to be specially respected by his inferiors in birth, in goodness, and generally in anything in which he is much their superior." Slight can also be caused through disregard. "Thus a sick man is angered by disregard of his illness, a poor man by disregard of his poverty, a man aging war by disregard of the war he is waging, a lover by disregard of his love, and so throughout" (Aristotle). One can control their anger if they see the slighter as ones whose opinion or respect was not necessary. Only five classes of people can slight us, our rivals, those whom we admire, those whom we wish to admire us, those for whom we feel reverence, and those who feel reverence for us. Each of these comes from those one respects. Anger is felt as an individual feeling, not as a group. Though many can feel anger, it originates from each persons individual feelings.
Aristotle points out that the opposite of anger is one of calmness. It can define "as the settling down or quieting of anger" (Aristotle). He also says that one cannot get angry with people that they fear or respect. Calmness comes when one is amused, laughing, or even feasting which would bring pleasure, which is the opposite of pain, which causes anger. One can achieve calm do to a conviction of the offender of their anger, or when they see justice.
An orator can cause their audience to feel either anger or calm with persuasive rhetoric. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos especially, the speaker can guide his audience to a feeling of slight, anger, or a feeling of justice, calm. This approach of comprehending how to generate anger and calmness can be seen in many speeches from the past and today. Aristotle's approach can be seen in the Mytilenian Debate in which Cleon points out the in justice of the Mytilenians to Prime Minister Churchill's speeches to British citizens calming them of during the Nazi blitzkrieg, as well as many others through out history.
Students today are easily angered by inflammatory rhetoric. Though physical violence is prevalent, many times, verbal speech can be what set's off physical contact. As explained by Aristotle, slighting causes this anger that leads to violence. By getting to the root of the cause of this slight and having students understand why responding to the slight justifies the origin of the remark as credible, is important to stopping student violence. Students are quick to respond to a remark, as Aristotle would refer to as insolence. Though contempt and spite are causes for some anger to youths, insolence is the major cause of student anger. One student will make a comment that causes another student to feel shame and disrespected. Though if the student ignored the comment or saw its origin as one that was not respected, the issue would be dropped. However the student does not want to look weak, and his peers are sources of social status and respect, so he responds. Calmness could be achieved through some sort of justice on the offender, but because many students do not trust the school or societies legal system, they feel that justice will not be achieved through legal means, which leads them to street justice. Hopefully through an analysis of Aristotle's theory, students will understand that their actions lead more to justification of the wrongdoer, vs. vindication.
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