Article 9 of 211

Subject:      Re: Difficulties with
From:         Sam Dodsworth <sam@aristos.demon.co.uk>
Date:         1997/02/12
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In article <5dqc7l$8co@jupiter.dnai.com>, Daniel Drake
<dandrake@netcom.com> writes
>
>Since I've butted in here, may I say?--
>All the talk about 'using rhetoric' is a little jarring. What rhetoric
>originally meant, as in 'grammar, rhetoric, and logic', is the way you
>express yourself, the way you make a point. Not using rhetoric is like
>speaking without an accent: there's no such thing, if you're going to
>communicate at all. It seems to have been in the 60s that 'empty
>rhetoric', a usful term, got shortened to 'rhetoric'; a usage that
>wastes a piece of the language. Do we need to follow that usage in this
>group?
>
        Well... philosophers in ancient Athens were often accused of
teaching their students to win any argument (and specifically any court
case) by trickery - it's one of the things Socrates was (falsely)
charged with - so there's certainly one "original meaning" that covers
my sense of the word. I do see your point, though. Perhaps we should
distinguish between "rhetoric" (the art of public speaking), "empty
rhetoric" (swaying an audience's emotions without adressing their
intellect) and "rhetorical tricks" (techniques to make an argument
appear conclusive when it is not). Of course, I'd say that "rhetorical
tricks" are a subset of the art of rhetoric, so when you're using them
you're also using rhetoric. 
        I must say that I'm a little surprised that "use of rhetoric"
has become such a controversial topic. As I've said elsewhere, I think
that it's much kinder (and more in-character) to assume that Lewis was
using the techniques of the debating-society than to read him, as I no
longer do, either as a fool or as a liar. 

Sam Dodsworth (sam@aristos.demon.co.uk)
"Language is a virus from outer space."
                        - William Burroughs