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The Art of Rhetoric
Few, if any, writers in history have made major contributions to as many fields of knowledge as Aristotle...
'If there are two definitive features of ancient Greek civilization,' writes Hugh Lawson-Tancred in his wide-ranging Introduction, 'they are articulacy and competition.' In the city-states oratorical competence was an essential asset for politicians in the Assemblies
...morePaperback, 304 pages
Published
October 31st 1991
by Penguin Classics
(first published -322)
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(showing 1-30)
Aristotle defines. Unmercifully. And The Art of Rhetoric is no exception. Aristotle disdained the sophist tradition of ancient Greece as much as Plato, but he also understood that rhetoric was a popular study of the day and it became another discipline he sought to master. With a scientific eye and a mind toward philosophical value, Aristotle studied rhetoric as “the power to observe the persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits” (pg. 74; Ch. 1.2). Rhetoric, when used appropriately, b
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Not Aristotle's clearest or best organized work, but still part of the core curriculum of a liberal education.
Why read Aristotle today? Because he is one of the greatest minds in Western history, and such a person's well-considered thoughts are inherently worth reading, if anything is.
In addition, this book was deliberately aimed at those seeking to play an active role in a democratic society, to help them fulfill their function as citizens of a free society. We in the West imagine ourselves (mo ...more
Why read Aristotle today? Because he is one of the greatest minds in Western history, and such a person's well-considered thoughts are inherently worth reading, if anything is.
In addition, this book was deliberately aimed at those seeking to play an active role in a democratic society, to help them fulfill their function as citizens of a free society. We in the West imagine ourselves (mo ...more
You may never have read anything by Aristotle; but if you've ever taken a college writing course, you've had him as your teacher. The Art of Rhetoric did so much to define how subsequent generations, and civilizations, regarded the task of crafting persuasive language that it can truly be regarded as a founding text. Methodically, Aristotle sets forth his sense of how the writer's handling of character and emotion contributes to success in rhetorical terms. His insights regarding style and compo
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Aristoteles'in Platon'un "Gorgias"da bahsettiği Retorik kavramını bir üst seviyeye taşıdığı eseri "The Art of Rhetoric / Retorik", insani tutumlara dair mükemmele yakın tanımlamarıyla adeta bir hayat sözlüğü niteliğinde. Kıskançlık, kibir, gurur, hırs, yaşlılık, gençlik gibi bir sürü kavramın açıklamalarını okuma şansı bulduğumuz eserde özellikle ilk iki kitabı okurken ünlü filozofun zekasına ve gözlemlerine hayran kalıyorsunuz. Öte yandan, eğretileme ve konuşma tekniklerinden bahsettiği daha ço
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The first book of Aristotle’s highly taxonomical Rhetoric opens with a parsing of dialectic and rhetoric. He sets up the latter as an art of persuasion related to but nevertheless distinguishable from the former. After exploring the usefulness of syllogisms and enthymemes for both arts, Aristotle sets out his three basic categories of rhetorical discourse: deliberative, judicial (or forensic), and epideictic. He spends the rest of the first book exploring topics (related to the Greek topos, for
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This book is obviously a classic to the field of rhetoric. It also contains what is essentially the first treatise on human psychology, in addition to systematically analyzing the art of persuasion.
I have never read any other editions of this book, but I would recommend this edition to everyone who wants to read it. George Kennedy's translation and his commentary are incredibly helpful, even amusing at times. His sheer knowledge of Aristotle and this work (he must have spent decades on it) is st ...more
I have never read any other editions of this book, but I would recommend this edition to everyone who wants to read it. George Kennedy's translation and his commentary are incredibly helpful, even amusing at times. His sheer knowledge of Aristotle and this work (he must have spent decades on it) is st ...more
Kniha mi vůbec nesedla. Asi to bylo kombinací více faktorů.
- Překladem do archaické češtiny - z akademického pohledu to je asi ocenitelné, ale špatně se mi četla.
- Nedostatečnou znalostí reálií antického Řecka. Odkazuje se na ně neustále, ztrácel jsem se v tom.
- Přístupem k tématu. Co jsem hledal, že autor řekne k tématu by zabralo asi jen desetinu knihu, zbytek byla pro mě "vata" okolo.
Ve výsledku bych si radši přečetl předžvýkaný výtah, který přinese zajímavé myšlenky autora současnému čtenáři ...more
- Překladem do archaické češtiny - z akademického pohledu to je asi ocenitelné, ale špatně se mi četla.
- Nedostatečnou znalostí reálií antického Řecka. Odkazuje se na ně neustále, ztrácel jsem se v tom.
- Přístupem k tématu. Co jsem hledal, že autor řekne k tématu by zabralo asi jen desetinu knihu, zbytek byla pro mě "vata" okolo.
Ve výsledku bych si radši přečetl předžvýkaný výtah, který přinese zajímavé myšlenky autora současnému čtenáři ...more
I need an Idiot's Guide type book to help me with this one because this is just not sinking in. Perhaps I need to reread it. ehh. I'm not really a fan of rhetoric to begin with but this is certainly the book for orators, politicians, and lawyers to be. Proof, proof, proof, make sure you can back up what you say, but when you don't have proof, at least say it with style and panache, that's half the battle. An interesting read during election season.
One of the most interesting moments in this boo ...more
One of the most interesting moments in this boo ...more
A translation is mainly an analogue to another text. This edition presents a direct analogue that, to the layman, doesn’t arouse any suspicions of misrepresentation in the text, and sustaining that particular suspension of disbelief is the measure of any translator's work.
I was totally content with this specific publication, but my interests were to read it once and be done with it. This is an unglamorous edition and I wouldn’t give it to your daughter’s boyfriend for Christmas.
As a speechwrit ...more
I was totally content with this specific publication, but my interests were to read it once and be done with it. This is an unglamorous edition and I wouldn’t give it to your daughter’s boyfriend for Christmas.
As a speechwrit ...more
While this is a book about rhetoric the broad definition that is used by Aristotle allows for excursions into philosophy, government, history, ethics, and literature. Thus when discussing the proper organization of a speech Aristotle draws on literary examples from Homer and Herodotus to Sophocles. No one can deny the strength of Antigone's argument when she says, "But when mother and father have gone to Hades there is no brother who can be born again".(p 271)
The work is difficult for Aristotle ...more
The work is difficult for Aristotle ...more
There is a lot of good stuff here (obviously-it's Aristotle, man!) and it almost feels wrong not giving this 5 stars, but alas...I just didn't find all of it very interesting. I struggled to finish this, mostly because there were some great points on rhetoric surrounded by mountains of definitions that don't really seem to define rhetoric as it is today. I'm sure there are some more modern texts that get at the same ideas in a more modern context-but we all owe a lot of that to Aristotle.
Anyway, ...more
Anyway, ...more
I cleared my one-star rating for being a purely subjective impression as a college freshman. Never have I read a more unpersuasive and engaging treatment of the art of persuasion. Perhaps I would have found it more so with a better translation? Someday I may pick up a Sachs translation and give it another go.
Don't throw things at me.
When I trudged through the dull translation of a section that proclaimed no value to a type of oration that I had just that evening used to great effect in a public political speech to a small audience, perhaps the years have been unkind, but I knew this wasn't going to be of great use to me. Times change, and sophistry is a fact. Wishing it away changes nothing.
When I trudged through the dull translation of a section that proclaimed no value to a type of oration that I had just that evening used to great effect in a public political speech to a small audience, perhaps the years have been unkind, but I knew this wasn't going to be of great use to me. Times change, and sophistry is a fact. Wishing it away changes nothing.
Je me suis régalé avec Aristote.
Jul 02, 2017
Michael de Percy
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-reviewed
Some of this book reads like a manual for living with what seem to be the simplest instructions imaginable. Wake up, lift the cover, put your feet on the floor, stand up, go to the bathroom, etc. Yet when one thinks about this being some of the earliest writings in recorded history, this instruction manual in how to be persuasive in speech and in writing states exactly what we teach our university students today. And therein lies the simplicity that belies its brilliance. This is my first cover-
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Aristotle is one of those guys that you know is a seminal influence on the whole of civilization, and yet seems to have gotten there by saying all the obvious things. (Somebody had to do it!) The man is clearly brilliant, but not quite congenial to modern taste, if I'm any judge. Case in point: a treatise on rhetoric-- that is, the art of speaking well-- should not, I submit, be impossibly labored, irritatingly imprecise in terminology, and totally unmemorable, and yet this seems to be.
Ahem: "e ...more
Ahem: "e ...more
“Sweet-natured through their not having yet observed much wickedness, and credulous through their not yet having been many times deceived, and optimistic ... because they have not frequently met with failure. And for the most part they live in hope; for hope is of the future and remembrance of the past, and for the young the future is long and the past short; for on one’s first day one can remember nothing but hope for everything. And they are easily deceived for the reason given (that they easi
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May 08, 2017
Emily
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Emily by:
Herder
Shelves:
classics,
informative
Aristotle's work is very difficult to understand but this work is very important in explaining how people should represent themselves through their words. I found this book to be beneficial during my class but I feel reading this book without any external guidance is difficult and it is hard to grasp the entire meaning of the text.
Aug 17, 2017
dedeh handayani
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
filsafat-pemikiran
saya baca versi bahasa inggris terjemahan pak W. Rhys Robert. yang saya ga habis pikir dan garuk garuk kepala meski ga gatal adalah: kenapa pak Rhys Robert ini gaya bahasanya begitu berbelit belit dan bikin frustrasi saya. ya, saya. ga tau yang lain. padahal bukunya sendiri salah satunya bicara tentang bagaimana membuat audiens senang dan menangkap apa yang disampaikan pembicara, dg bahasa yang ringkas dan tepat sasaran. hiks hiks ga habis pikir..
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| Book Groups | 2 | 8 | Dec 02, 2012 09:53PM | |
| Reading Rocks!: Why is it important to analyze the "moves" writers make? | 115 | 208 | Oct 25, 2012 03:07PM | |
| Brain Pain: Aristotle - The Art of Rhetoric - Discussion | 1 | 50 | Nov 26, 2011 06:45PM |
(Greece: Αριστοτέλης)
(Arabic: أرسطوطاليس)
(Bulgarian: Аристотел)
(Russian: Аристотель)
(Alternate European spelling: Aristoteles)
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: Aristotle's works shaped centuries of philosophy from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance, and even today contin ...more
More about Aristotle...
(Arabic: أرسطوطاليس)
(Bulgarian: Аристотел)
(Russian: Аристотель)
(Alternate European spelling: Aristoteles)
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: Aristotle's works shaped centuries of philosophy from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance, and even today contin ...more
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“What makes a man a 'sophist' is not his faculty, but his moral purpose. (1355b 17)”
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“If there are two definitive features of ancient Greek civilization, they are loquacity and competition.”
—
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