A Brief Introduction to the World of Rhetoric

Rhetoric according to Aristotle was the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. But what does that mean? What do people do in the field of rhetoric and why is it important that we learn about it? To understand these things first you must understand the following:

1. A text is anything that communicates.

2. Rhetoric is any text that persuades.

3. Composition is the assembly of a text.

The reality is that rhetoric surrounds you everywhere you go, however, as noted even by Aristotle over 2000 years ago, the true importance lies in our ability to percieve it. The easiest way to start thinking in terms of somethings rhetorical value is to ask yourself if whatever you're percieving is a text composed to persuade you about something? This can be very subtle as in the attire worn to a formal dinner to communicate class or something much more obviouse like the below Macy's advertisements.

Look at how happy she is with her bags from Macy's. This text was composed to persuade you to go to Macy's. Why? Because shopping at Macy's will make you as fashionable and happy-go-lucky as her. This advertisement was designed by a rhetorician, more specifically a marketing agent, somebody who specializes in rhetoric designed to persuade people that they should support you or your product (in this case Macy's). This is only one form of professional rhetoric. Others include the opposite of creating advertisements and instead focuse on deconstructing advertisements and analyzing what is so appealing or what goes unnoticed about the texts themselves. To see this in person check out:

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/tag/jewelry/page/3/

In education rhetoric is important because it teaches us how to construct an argument to persuade others and it teaches us to deconstruct an argument to test its validity. This makes us not only responsible percievers of information, but also responsible communicators.

For more information on and helpful definitions of rhetoric check out the following web page:

http://rhetoric.sdsu.edu/about_us/what_is_rhetoric.htm

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/english/courses/sites/lunsford/pages/defs.htm