ACIENT RHETORICS:

THEIR DIFFREENCES AND THE

DIFFERENCES THEY MAKE
Presented by: Wang Mengfan
01 Ancient rhetorics: the beginnings

02 Differences between ancient & modern

03 Practice, practice, practice

01 ACIENT RHETORICS:
THE BEGINNINGS
ATHENS
 BC5~4th
 The citizens in Athens
evolved a form of
government---
demokratia(democracy) and
Kratos(political power).
 It means that for the
Athenians,“democracy”gave
political powers to the
Demos(people)
DMOCRACY IN A DIFERENT SENSE
 In some ways, it involved  On the other hand, the
far more active
involvement by the
citizens in the process of
government: important
decisions (such as whether
to go to war or not) were
made by the direct vote of
all the citizens, not by
elected representatives.
citizen body in ancient
Athens was a tiny
proportion of the total
population: women, slaves,
and resident aliens were
excluded. (only 20% of
people were citizens with a
right to vote)
• Yet liberty within Athenian society was an essential
element in the city’s self-image.
• The Athenians were aware of their difference from
other Greek city-states, which had either a single
ruler (a tyrant), or an aristocratic ruling party.
DEFINITION OF RHETORS

Rhetors refer to
The term rhetor Later, it came to
The term meant people who practice
refer to someone mean “one skilled rhetoric.
something like “an
who introduced a in public speaking” Those people who
expert on politics”.
resolution into the as well teach it are referred
Assembly.
as rhetoricians.

BC 5th BC 4th Later In this book

02 DIFERENCES BETWEEN
ANCIENT AND MODERN
THOUGHT
DIFFERENCE-ONE

 Ancient rhetoricians did not value factual proof very

highly, while facts and testimony are virtually the
only proofs discussed in modern rhetorical theory.
WHY?
 In moderns, the  After 1850, American
importance given to facts rhetoric textbooks
derives from the modern began to reduce the
faith in science, or more many kinds of
technically, from faith in evidence discriminated
empirical proofs, those by ancient rhetoricians
that are available to to just two: empirical
senses: vision, smell, evidence and
taste, touch, and hearing. testimony.
EXTRINSIC PROOFS(ARISTOTLE)

Empirical derives from someone's actual sensory contact

evidence with the relevant evidence.

involves somebody's reporting their

acquaintance with the facts of the case. And
Testimony accounts by persons recognized as experts or
authorities.
WHAT ABOUT THE ANCIENTS?
 In contrast to moderns, ancient philosophers were
skeptical about the status of phenomena.
 Most agreed that human perception of the facts of
the physical world necessarily involved some
distortion, since human thoughts and perceptions
and language are obviously not the same things as
physical objects like rocks.
 INTRANSIC PROOFS

Intrinsic proofs: proofs that are

generated from rhetoric's
principles.

• Aristotle: three kinds of

intrinsic rhetorical proofs:
ethos, pathos, and logos.
DIFFERENCE-TWO

 Ethos: 'Buy my old car because I'm Tom Magliozzi.

 Logos: 'Buy my old car because yours is broken and
mine is the only one on sale.
 Pathos: 'Buy my old car or this cute little kitten,
afflicted with a rare degenerative disease, will expire
in agony, for my car is the last asset I have in the
world, and I am selling it to pay for kitty's medical
treatment.'
 (Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric
From Aristotle to Obama. Basic Books, 2012)
DIFFERENCE-TWO

 Ancient rhetoricians valued opinions as a source of

knowledge, whereas in modern thought opinions are
often dismissed as unimportant.
WHY?
 During 17th, science was 
associated with empirical
proofs and rational problem
solving, while nonscientific
methods of reasoning were
considered irrational or
emotional.
 It was also during this
period that the modern
notion of the individual
emerged, wherein each
person was thought to be
an intellectual island
whose unique experiences
rendered his or her
opinions unique.
The ancients believed
that rhetorical
reasoning, which is used
in politics or journalism,
is fully as legitimate as
that used in any other
filed. And even though it
utilizes appeals to
community opinion and
to emotions, if it is done
responsibly, rhetorical
reasoning is no more or
less valid that the
reasoning used in
science.
DIFFERENCE-THREE

 Ancient rhetoricians situated their teaching in place

and time. Their insistence that local and temporal
conditions influenced the act of composition marks a
fairly distinct contrast with the habit in modern
rhetoric of treating rhetorical occasions as if they
were all like.
RHETORIC SITUATION

Composition
issue of discussion
1.
audience, their relationship
2.
3.
rhetor,repuation,relation

time & place

WHAT ABOUT MODERN RHETORIANS?
 Modern rhetorical theories assume that all rhetors
and all audiences can read and write from a
neutral point of view.
DIFFERENCE-FOUR

 Modern rhetoricians tend to think that language’s

role is limited to the communication of facts, while
ancient rhetoricians taught their students that
language does many things.
THE ANCIENTS
 Ancient rhetoricians were not sure that words only or
simply represented thoughts(representative theory of
language held by modern rhetoricians). As a consequence,
they had a great respect for the power of language.
THE MODERNS
 In contrast, modern intellectual style tends toward
economy. This preference for economy in composition is
connected to modern insistence that clarity is the only
important characteristic of style. They miss an important
aspect of ancient instruction: that messing around with
language is fun.
03 PRACTICE, PRACTICE,
PRACTICE
THE ANCIENTS
While there was much disagreement among the ancients
about the best way to learn rhetoric, most of them agreed
on three points: practice, practice, and practice.
David Fleming(2003, 107)

1 2 3

exercise imitation composition

Progymnasmata: a series of preliminary rhetorical exercises that

began in ancient Greece.(aged 12 -15)
 THE ANCIENTS VS. THE MODERN

• Modern classrooms
treat such activities
and exercises as “busy The ancients placed
work”, something to less emphasis on the
fill time between “real” product and more
assignments. emphasis on constant
• This is because of a activity and practice.
heavy emphasis in
twentieth-century
classrooms on writing-
as-product.
 THANK YOU

2019/6/2