Speaking for the Polis: Isocrates' Rhetorical Education

Studies in Rhetoric & Communication

by Takis Poulakos

This volume considers Isocrates' educational programme from the perspective of rhetorical theory and explores its relation to sociopolitical practices. Illumining Isocrates' efforts to reformulate sophistic conceptions of rhetoric on the basis of the intellectual and political debates of his times, Takis Poulakos contends that the father of humanistic studies and rival educator of Plato crafted a version of rhetoric that gave the art an important new role in the ethical and political activities of Athens.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1997

Reviews

[Serge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am using this book in conjunction with Jack Rackove's Original Meanings to explore the ways the Founding Generation leveraged classical undertanding of rhetoric, political deliberation, and discursive communities rooted in justice and temperance and activated by rhetors who valued their reputations and the time and wisdom to act prudentially