Rhetorical Theory

Rhetoric as Precepts for Discourse Making

In ancient Europe, the original meaning of rhetoric was the “art suitable for a speaker.” This art provided precepts for discourse making to speakers who wished to persuade audiences. Although there is controversy about development of European rhetoric in the century bce, it seems likely that early precepts were derived inductively by theorists through observation of speakers and comparison of speaking practices with their respective outcomes (this procedure is described in Aristotle’s Rhetoric [330s bce]). Such theorizing was no doubt assisted by long-standing Greek cultural norms for speaking in assemblies, trials, and private venues (examples of such norms appear in Homer’s Iliad [8th century bce] and Hesiod’s Works and Days [ca. 8/7th century bce]). Once conceptualization began, rhetorical theory developed fairly rapidly. By around 400 bce, Theodorus of Byzantium had conceptualized an elaborate scheme for organizing a speech. Likewise, in the late 390s bce, Isocrates’ Against the Sophists resorted to conceptualized speech genres (political and courtroom speeches) and compositional activities of speakers (finding, arranging, and expressing speech materials). These three locations of theoretical inquiry, namely speech parts, speech genres, and compositional activities, became central concepts in preceptive rhetorical theory.

Even at the earliest stages of rhetorical theory development, advancements were associated with the use of heuristics. For example, Plato developed the principle of adapting discourses to audiences by critiquing the lack of psychology in 5th and early 4th century rhetorical theories (comparing rhetoric to medicine in Gorgias [ca. 390–385 bce]), and then extending rhetorical concerns with audiences and means to include adaptation of speech types to soul types (in the Phaedrus [ca. 369–367 bce]). Similarly, after Aristotle surveyed previous rhetorical theories in his Collection of Arts [340s–330s(?) bce], his Rhetoric replicated and revised historical rhetoric in theorizing central concepts. According to Aristotle, speech parts included proem, narration, proof, and conclusion; speech genres included deliberative, forensic, and [Page 1507]epideictic; and compositional activities included invention, arrangement, style, and delivery. In addition, Aristotle employed relations of rhetoric with logic, politics, and ethics to reconceptualize means of rhetoric to include informal reasoning guided by inference rules that were general or subject-related.

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