The Faculties of Classical Rhetoric

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The Faculties of Classical Rhetoric

• Invention (L. inventio Gr. heuresis)
• Arrangement (L. dispositio Gr. taxis)
• Style (L. elocutia Gr. lexis)

• Memory (L. memoria Gr. mneme)
• Delivery (L. actio Gr. hypocrisis)

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Aristotles View of Rhetoric

• Rhetoric is the ability, in each particular case,
  to see the available means of persuasion.
• A speech situation consists of a speaker, a
  subject, and an audience. The audience is either
  judge or spectator.
• The three kinds of speeches are legislative,
  judicial, and epideictic.

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Aristotles Artistic Proofs

• Aristotles means of effecting persuasion
• ethos--ethical proof, in which the orator
  establishes a credible character or persona
• logos--logical proof, contained in the words
  themselves
• pathos--pathetic proof, which appeals to the
  sympathies or interests of the audience

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Definitions of Rhetoric

• Rhetoric is a primarily verbal, situationally
  contingent, epistemic art that is both
  philosophical and practical and gives rise to
  potentially active texts. (Covino Jolliffe)
• Rhetoric is the global art that develops theories
  concerning, and studies the manifestations of,
  all human discourse, not just persuasion.
  (Winterowd)

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Aristotles Definition of Style

• It is not enough to have a supply of things to
  say, but it is also necessary to say it in the
  right way.
• Let the virtue of style be defined as to be
  clear . . . And neither flat nor above the
  dignity of the subject, but appropriate.
• Authors should compose without being noticed and
  should seem to speak not artificially but
  naturally. (Rhetorica)

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Ciceros Qualities of Style

• Correctness
• Clarity
• Appropriateness (suiting the style to the
  audience and the occasion)
• Ornament (use of figures of speech, including
  tropes and schemes)
• (De Oratore)

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Longinus on Vices of Style

• Turgidity (bombastic, theatrical notions and
  images)
• Puerility (words overelaborate to express
  inferior ideas)

• Parenthyrsos (overdone, artifical emotional tone)
• Frigidity (expressions unworthy of the thought)

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Longinuss Sources or Causes of Great Writing

• Vigor and nobility of mind
• strong and inspired emotion
• the right use of figures

• Noble diction (including metaphors and
  neologisms)
• the arrangement of words
• (On the Sublime)

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Two Classical Traditions of Style

• Charactersor Kinds of Style, principally three
• Grand
• Middle
• Low
• (See Cicero, Quintilian, Augustine)

• One Ideal Form of Style with such qualities as
• clarity
• grandeur
• beauty
• vigor
• ethos
• verity
• gravity

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Demetrius on Style

• The Plain Style
• The Grand Style
• The Elegant Style
• The Forceful Style
• All other styles are combinations of these.

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George Campbell (1776)The Rhetorical Qualities
of Style

• Perspicuity (appeals to the understanding)
• Vivacity (appeals to the imagination)
• Elegance
• Animation (agitates the passions sublime)
• Music

• Usage should be
• reputable (based on language of best writers and
  speakers)
• national (excluding foreign expressions)
• present (excluding archaisms)