Persuasion in Democratic Politics

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 10.02.08

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Objectives
  4. Background Information
  5. The Architects of Rhetoric
  6. Moments in History to Illustrate the Importance of Rhetoric
  7. The Components of Rhetoric
  8. Putting a Speech Together
  9. Instructional Strategies
  10. Activities
  11. Appendix A: Parts of Speech Used in Persuasive Writing
  12. Bibliography
  13. Additional Readings
  14. State Standards
  15. Appendix B: Examples of Work
  16. Cloze Activity
  17. Analyzing Speeches for Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Activity

To Persuade or Not to Persuade: The Makings of a Persuasive Speech

David Lane Probst

Published September 2010

Tools for this Unit:

The Architects of Rhetoric

Two of the most important figures in the history of rhetoric are Aristotle and Cicero. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist. He was able to combine the thoughts of Socrates and Plato to create his own ideas and definition of rhetoric.Rhetoric, written sometime between 360 and 334 B.C., was one of his most influential works. In this work, he writes about the art of public speaking. He believes that rhetoric treats specific cases. These specific cases are topoi, which are different topics that can be used in persuasion. In Book Two of Rhetoric, he lists the twenty-eight common topics, or topoi. He also addresses style, diction, metaphor, and arrangement. The theory of the syllogism was first introduced by Aristotle. He was the first to analyze an argument in a logical order. The rhetorical syllogism is also called an enthymeme. An enthymeme is a statement that transfers attitudes the audience already holds to the case at hand. Another concept, pisteis, was developed by Aristotle. Pisteis simply refers to the different ways in which a speech can be persuasive. Aristotle wrote that there were three different ways: ethos, logos, and pathos.

  • Ethos is the credibility of the rhetor.
  • Logos is the power of reasoning shared by the rhetor and the audience.
  • Pathos is the emotions of the audience.
    Cicero (106-43 B.C.) is considered one of the most significant rhetoricians of all time. His works include the early and very influential De Inventione (On Invention), De Oratore, and Orator (a defense of Cicero's style). He championed the learning of the Greeks (and Greek rhetoric), contributed to Roman ethics, linguistics, philosophy, and politics, and emphasized the importance of all forms of appeal (emotion, humor, stylistic range, irony and digression in addition to pure reasoning) in oratory.

    Cicero was also a great politician in ancient Rome. He used his skills as a rhetorician to climb his way up the political ladder of the ancient Roman time culminating in him reaching the highest office that one was able to hold at the time which was called the consul. One of Cicero's greatest accomplishments and failures was when he "saved" the Republic of Rome from collapse at the hands of Catiline. After the Cataline incident Cicero's popularity increased but later the incident harmed him and he was banished from Rome. He eventually was allowed to return to Rome but not long after that Cicero was murdered. He was thought to be one of ancient Rome's greatest orators who made significant contributions to rhetoric and philosophy.

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