- This week, we're going to define the term rhetoric.
It's a key term in the area of communication, my area.
We'll give some background on it
and talk about how we see rhetoric in our lives today.
(enthusiastic music)
- I'm Alex Lyon, be sure to check out
any of my online classes at the Communication Coach Academy.
I'll put a link to that in the description below this video.
My working definition of rhetoric
is the number one, art of persuasive speaking or writing,
and number two, the effective use of language, arguments
and various kinds of support to inform, motivate
or persuade an audience.
The word rhetoric, though, has a certain connotation
when we hear it used in everyday conversation.
You might hear somebody, for example,
dismiss a politician's message
as, "Oh, that's just rhetoric,"
as if to say that those are just words
that sound good on the surface,
but ultimately have no substance to back them up.
But the roots in this area of study
have quite a rich history and a lot of depth.
In school you see rhetoric classes in English departments,
and in my area, communication,
where you'll sometimes hear rhetoric referred to
as oratory or persuasive speaking.
Rhetoric is one of the oldest fields of study
in human history,
and its roots go back as early as about *400 BC.*
That field came together really
at the confluence of two rivers
that joined into one turbulent, powerful river.
And in one river, we have the sophists.
In school, you might hear names of various sophists
like Protagoras, Gorgias or Isocrates.
And I'm going to oversimplify this a lot,
but these sophists were popular, paid teachers
who taught their version of persuasive speaking.
These teachers claimed
that they taught the weighty principles
of things like virtue, wisdom and justice.
But critics say that the sophists
mainly taught students the art of speaking eloquently
and cleverly, but in a way
that did not really provide the substance,
the rigor and the depth that the teacher promised.
The sophists may not have delivered
on all of their promises, but they did contribute
to a body of work around the art
of speaking eloquently and persuasively,
which is still a really important contribution.
In the other river, you have key historical figures
like Plato, Aristotle and Cicero,
who added more depth and systematic thinking
to that conversation about how to speak ethically,
logically and persuasively.
In short, these philosophers added more
of the substance and rigor
that the sophists may have lacked.
So these two rivers came together in a turbulence.
These two historical groups, the sophists
and the philosophers debated each other,
they pushed each other's thinking,
and ultimately both groups provided the body of water,
or the body of work that represents the earliest theories
of communication, expression and argumentation.
They didn't all get along and agree,
but these players, and many others I didn't mention,
form the foundation of the field we now call rhetoric.
They did this at a time
when the world's first democracies were taking shape.
And they helped put communication-based skills
at the center of societies, governments and communities.
It was perhaps the first time
that the way you represented your ideas
and yourself in public forums
through persuasive communication meant almost as much
as the strength of your armies.
The field of rhetoric, in part,
is why we have expressions today
like the pen is mightier than the sword.
These early rhetoricians showed us, in many societies,
that communication was king.
Jump forward to today.
We see principles of rhetoric in our writing classes
as they teach us how to use language
and form arguments for maximum influence.
We see rhetoric taught in classes
like argumentation and debate, public speaking
and the study of free speech and politics.
Some of those classes take students all the way back.
Other classes include new writings and new scholars.
In fact, there's no way to even scratch the surface
in a short video like this.
I'm skipping over literally thousands of years.
On TV or online, you see people doing sometimes a breakdown
of an important speech or a presidential debate.
Those experts may have a background in rhetoric.
Students who study this area of communication
sometimes become authors or speech writers.
They might go into teaching, professional speaking.
They might become trainers of various sorts
or go into government work.
Many law students start
as undergraduate communication majors
because they want to learn how to stand up
and speak persuasively and debate in front of people.
Some rhetoric students go into marketing
or business of various types.
We see the full range of politicians, business people
and companies using principles of rhetoric
to communicate their message
in the most compelling way possible
on TV, online and in person.
What practical insights can we take away from this?
First, the term does not mean words without substance.
Rhetoric is a rich, complex and historic area of study.
Second, these teachers and philosophers showed us
that persuasive speaking
is not necessarily a natural born talent,
but it's a learnable set of skills.
You can take classes and get better with practice.
That was their whole point.
Third, communication is a driving force in our society.
The ability to tell your story, to advocate
and get a message out is practically mandatory these days.
So the study of rhetoric is more relevant
and more sophisticated than it is ever been.
Question of the day, how would you like to get better
at using communication persuasively in your life?
I'd love to hear your comments
in that section below the video.
And as I mentioned, I invite you to take a look
at some of my online classes
at the Communication Coach Academy.
You may want to start with my free class
on the five essential communication skills
that all professionals should have.
I'll put a link below.
So thanks, God bless, and I will see you soon.