Book Reviews 247

Pocock, J.G.A. (1999). Barbarism and Religion, Vol.1: The Enlightenments

of Edward Gibbon, 17371764, Cambridge.
Robertson, John (2007). The Case for the Enlightenment: Scotland and
Naples 1680-1760, Cambridge.
Skinner, Quentin (1998). Liberty before Liberalism, Cambridge.
Skinner, Quentin (2002). Visions of Politics, Vol. 1: Regarding Method,
Cambridge.
Young, B. W. (2009). Enlightenment Political Thought and the
Cambridge School, The Historical Journal 52, pp. 235-51.


Richard Toye (2013). Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, xiii + 122 pp, 7.99.
ISBN: 978-0-199-65136-8.

Though stating from the outset that he is an historian, and that this
work should be thought of as historically informed (6), Toyes work
does not represent a history of rhetoric. Instead, readers are
presented with a targeted discussion of rhetoric as a linguistic tool; a
means of communication systemic in private and public parlance
from ancient to modern times, and, as becomes clear, one by which
the author considers the understanding of both the expression and
generation of political ideas to be fundamentally underpinned (5).
The opening chapter, however, does provide a history of
rhetorical development; examining the progression from its
conception as a distinct branch of knowledge (7), to being the
means by which political policy is communicated in contemporary
mass democracies (30). Toye touts rhetoric as a legitimate and
marketable skill, distinct from other forms of public address.
Indeed, the study can be read as a reaction to the traditional
criticism of rhetoric, centred initially upon the Sophist attestation
that personal virtue, including skilled oratory persuasion, could be
taught, as opposed to being the innate reserve of the aristocracy (8).
Intellectual History and Political Thought 248
Citing critics of rhetorical practice Xenophon, Aristophanes
and Plato and exponents of the craft Corax of Syracuse the
author succinctly substantiates his premise that from its conception,
misgivings concerning rhetoric have largely centred around the
perception that it favours arguments based on probability over
those based on truth (9). Exemplifying the opening of Platos
Gorgias, Toye explains the common understanding of the
rhetorician [not being] concerned to educate the people about
right and wrong; the orators primary concern being to persuade
rather than to inform (10). Following a position strongly supported
by scholarship since the late 1990s, Toye sees this as an unfair
assessment of rhetorical craft, whilst acknowledging that the
reputation of the Sophists and rhetoric itself never recovered
from the drubbing Plato gave it (11).
1

Indeed, as the first section progresses, it becomes clear to the
reader that the authors ambition is to rehabilitate rhetoric in the
eyes of the public. His presentation of the craft as a legitimate and
effective device for the conference of political thought and the
stimulation of actively politicised ideas within an intellectual
community, acts to counter the almost institutionalised hostility to
its use. In charting the relationship between rhetoric and dialectic,
and the role of orators in the citizenrys participation in politics in
the ancient world, Toye emphasises the Aristotelian redefinition of
rhetoric as the tool by which speakers and authors present
information in the most effect manner to win over a specific
audience, rather than merely constituting the delivery of beautiful,
hollow phrases. By succinctly enumerating the discerning
characteristics of an audience to which rhetoric should appeal
their !thos, pathos, and logos and conceding that rhetoric is
indeed susceptible to misuse though only to the same extent that
all good things expect arte are Aristotle is cited as partially

1
See, Skinner 1996 and Vickers 1998.
Book Reviews 249
inoculating the discipline against Platos criticism; paving the way
for rhetorics progression long after his death (13-14).
Considering Ciceros influence in rhetorics later appreciation,
Toye then examines the effect of various theatres particularly the
senate and the law-courts on its development (17). This historical
section represents the most fundamentally informative element of
Toyes work; the chapters that follow acting more to guide and
inform personal rhetorical development, rather than academic
analysis.
In citing both contextual examples and modern scholarship,
Toye develops the first of his works two key themes: that the
reader should be left feeling empowered by the possibilities that
rhetoric can afford them, and that by examining historical example,
the misgivings perpetuated by traditional Platonic damnation can be
overcome. Rhetoric, he states, finds strength in being able to adapt
to new social and political paradigms, and thus remains a
consistently relevant factor in the discussion of the hermeneutic
efficacy of policy and ideals (31).
The remainder of the work deals with the issue of rhetorics
implementation in more contemporary contexts. By appropriating
near-contemporary examples of Aristotelian rhetorical structure,
however, the author nevertheless demonstrates that historically-
established structures remain of protracted relevance in the
consideration of modern discourse (44).
The latter section acts to articulate the second of the major
theme of the work: that knowing the checklist of time-honoured
methods by no means constitutes being effective rhetorician, or
indeed, an effective analyst of rhetorical discourse (108). In
exemplifying rhetoric as part of drama composed to entertain the
genuine audience and to misguide a fictional one Toye neatly
demonstrates the concept that rhetoric can be simultaneously
revealing and ambiguous (60), articulating through modern
example that Platonic criticism of rhetoric is of ever-present
Intellectual History and Political Thought 250
concern. The final chapter Rhetoric in the modern world
examines the new paradigm of global media, and the necessary
attempt to preserve a base level of comprehension in an
unanticipated as well as the intended audience.
Indeed, where the first theme of the work constructs a
comprehensive advert for the demonstrable benefits of being a good
rhetorician, the latter seemingly constitutes a warning; not lesser in
its execution, but acting to detract from the certainty of the initial
attestation. Toye observes that rhetoric has become euphemistic
for the objectionable re-engineering of reality to suit the purpose of
a speaker. Though acknowledging this, Toyes response that such
criticism is unavoidable, and virtually unanswerable (106-107)
seems a little under developed.
Overall, however, this work is an insightful and provocative
introduction to a complex subject. The historical element offers a
comprehensive and challenging rendition of rhetorics role in
political discourse; the latter offers budding rhetoricians peculiar
insight into the ambitions and developing techniques of their
forebears. Despite the conflict between encouraging rhetorical
development and observing that modern realities compromise such
techniques in political exchange, Toyes arguments are
appropriately persuasive for an introduction to rhetoric, both as a
practical tool and as a concern for academic scholarship.

Thomas Howells
University of London

Works Cited

Skinner, Q. (1996). Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Thomas
Hobbes, Cambridge.
Vickers, B. (1998). In Defence of Rhetoric, Oxford.