Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion

     Rhetoric, like all things can be viewed in infinite ways and that is why it is interesting to so many people.  My definition of rhetoric is simply that it is the art of persuasion.  Through the use of rhetoric, ideas can be spread from one person to another.  In can be phrased in other words as being a tool of communication.

     In the textbook Everyone's An Author the writer of chapter five gives several examples of jobs that involved the study of rhetoric.  Interestingly enough all of these jobs had one commonality, they all involved persuading others' way of thought.  The necessity to communicate and comprehend the ideas of one's own and of others is great in our modern day society.  Therefore, in order to do so one must study rhetoric, the art of persuasion.

     The persuasion of this textbook begins on the first page of the preface.  The first page involves appealing to the younger generations by referring to social media outlets such as Facebook.  By doing so, the authors hope to draw in the younger reader who most likely has not thought much into persuasion or rhetoric.  In rhetoric, this technique is referred to as a hook.  Once the author hooks the reader the author can then begin to alter the readers' way of thought.

     Rhetoric is famous for many things, one of them being the acknowledgement of contradicting points of view.  Plato is acknowledged for his view on rhetoric being "deception and trickery" in chapter five.  By acknowledging the contradicting point of view of someone so renown as Plato, the author hopes to boast the his/her trustworthiness or as referred to in rhetoric, ethos.  The author never refutes Plato likely due to the fact that he/she agrees with the famous Philosopher.  By using the latter rhetorical strategy the author only further confirms rhetoric as being the art of persuasion.

     Rhetoric, once it is exposed in its entirety seems as an evil and manipulative field.  However, in today's modern society rhetoric, the art of persuasion is a necessary evil that must be studied in order to communicate and understand ideas, whatever they may be.