Although we could spend an entire semester on each of the three books in On Rhetoric, we aren’t doing that. I encourage you to reread Aristotle (and all our readings) at different points in your lives in the future. Not only will that help you better understand and remember the readings, but you will most likely find the you experience the texts differently and can relate them to new circumstances.

Aristotle Highlights

Book 2 moves us into a discussion on the means of persuasion, and Aristotle continues as “the great organizer” and catalogs how to use and what to use when delivering oratory. Book 2 appears to me to focus on ways of demonstrating/delivering arguments, but it also provides insight into Aristotle’s views of government (democracy, tyranny, politics) and his elitism. Notice how often education comes up as important for citizens.

As our friend Kennedy points out, this section is one of “the earliest systematic discussion[s] on human psychology” (p. 113–2nd ed).

We don’t have to follow the list below (at all or in order), but I’m offering these categories as themes to consider.

• Disposition of audiences
• Emotions
• Probabilities
• Topics
• Education
• Youth Behavior

Themes to Consider

Disposition of audiences:

• Friendly vs. Calm: “…for things do not seem the same to those who are friendly and those who are hostile, nor [the same] to the angry and the calm but either altogether different or different in importance” (2.1.4, 1378a, Kennedy p. 112; Part 1, para. 2 [middle] Online)
• The entitled elite: “And people think they are entitled to be treated with respect by those inferior in birth, in power, in virtue, and generally in whatever they themselves have much of” (2.2.7, 1379a, Kennedy p. 117; Part 2, para. 4 Online)
  • Let’s read the rest of 2.2.7-8 (and the “8” is missing in Kennedy’s 2nd ed on p. 118).
    • Is Aristotle adding his belief on entitlement or just stating an accurate observation?
    • In other words, is Aristotle claiming that the “superior” have a right to expect the respect of the “inferior.”
• “[People are also calm] toward those who humble themselves toward them and do not contradict them; for they seem to admit being inferiors, and inferiors are afraid, and no one who is afraid belittle. That anger ceases toward those who humble themselves is evident even in the case of dogs, who do not bite those sitting down” (2.3.6, 1380b, Kennedy p. 122; Part 3, para. 2 [middle] Online)
• People are generally bad: “Since most people are rather bad, slaves of profitmaking and cowardly in danger, being at the mercy of another is in most cases a cause of fear” (2.5.7, 1382b, Kennedy p. 129; Part 5, para. 1 [middle] Online)
  • “for human beings usually do wrong when they can” (2.5.8, 1382b, Kennedy p. 129)
  • Compare to “And since most men tend to be bad-slaves to greed, and cowards in danger-it is, as a rule, a terrible thing to be at another man’s mercy; and therefore, if we have done anything horrible, those in the secret terrify us with the thought that they may betray or desert us. And those who can do us wrong are terrible to us when we are liable to be wronged; for as a rule men do wrong to others whenever they have the power to do it” (Part 5, para. 1 [middle] Online, italics mine)
  • Logical demonstration: “And [people fear] those [that seem a cause of fear] to others who are stronger than they are; for they could harm them more if they could even harm those who are stronger” (2.5.10, 1382b, Kennedy p. 129; Part 5, para. 1 [middle] Online)
  • Compare to “We also fear those who are to be feared by stronger people than ourselves…” (Part 5, para. 1 [last third])
    • Major Premise: People fear those who can harm them.
      Minor Premise: Strong people can harm weaker people.
      Conclusion: Therefore, people fear those stronger than themselves.
    • Slightly related to the Transitive Axiom of equality in Algebra: If a = b and b = c then a = c. {Found memories, huh?}
• Shame: “Since shame is imagination [phantasia] about a loss of reputation and for its own sake, not for its results…a person feels shame toward those whose opinion he takes account of” (2.6.14, 1384a, Kennedy p. 134; Part 6, para. 2 Online)

Justice and Revenge:

• Indignation and envy: “…for example, no good person would be distressed when parricides and bloodthirsty murderers meet punishment; for it is right to rejoice in such cases, as in the case of those who deservedly fare well; for both are just things and cause a fair-minded person to rejoice” (2.9.4, 1387a, Kennedy p. 142; Part 9, para. 1 [middle] Online)
  • But what about envy?
  • How about when good things happen to awful people?
• Nouveau riche: “Since what is long established seems close to nature, necessarily people are indignant at those having the same advantage if they have recently gotten it and do well because of it; for the newly rich cause more annoyance than those wealthy a long time and by inheritance” (2.9.9, 1387a, Kennedy p. 142; Part 9, para. 1 [middle] Online)
  • What assumptions must one have to believe the above two passages? Is Aristotle saying old money is better? Would that go over well with his audience? Would they, perhaps, be predisposed to believe it?
• “…for justice is better than music” (2.9.11, 1387a, Kennedy p. 142; Part 9, para. 2 [very end] Online)

Emotions:

• “The emotions [pathē] are those things through which, by undergoing change, people come to differ in their judgments and which are accompanied by pain or pleasure, for example, anger, pity, fear and other such things and their opposites.” (2.1.8, 1378a, Kennedy p. 113; Part 1, para. 2 Online)

Probabilities:

• “And if what usually precedes has preceded [what usually follows will probably happen]; for example, if it is cloudy, there is a probability it will rain” (2.19.24, 1393a, Kennedy p. 160; unfortunately, the Online version cuts off at Part 16…)
  • Most scientists will explain that they demonstrate probabilities as opposed to proving universals.
  • This is important to point out because Aristotle’s idea here will be the basis for science. {For the record, this might be too much to attribute to Aristotle, but it’s important for thinking about the rhetoric of science, specifically the way scientists establish knowledge.}

Topics:

There are 28 topics, so we could spend an entire class on them. Perhaps we should discuss which ones most interest you (2.23.1-30, 1397a-1401a, Kennedy pp. 172-184; … )

• “Topic 13: From the Consequence….since in most instances it happens that something good and bad follows from the same [cause]. For example, being envied is an evil result of being educated, but the wisdom [acquired] is a good thing” (2.23.14, 1399a, Kennedy pp. 178-179; … )
  • Story of my life…
• “Topic 21: From the implausible….for people accept facts or probabilities as true; if, then, something were implausible and not probable, it would be true; for it is not because of probability and plausibility that it seems true [but because it is a fact]” (2.23.22, 1400a, Kennedy pp. 181; … )
  • This is quite a bizarre one. What can we compare it to?
  • I sort of think a statement like, “it’s so preposterous that it couldn’t be made up” gets at this point.
  • Truth is stranger than fiction. However, there’s a lot of strange fiction out there!
• “Topic 24: From cause and effect….if the cause exists, so does the effect; if it does not, there is no effect. The cause and that of which it is the cause go together, and without cause there is nothing.” (2.23.25, 1400b, Kennedy pp. 182; … )
• “Refutative enthymemes are better liked [by audiences] than demonstrative ones because the refutative enthymeme is a bringing together of opposites in brief form” (2.23.30, 1400b, Kennedy pp. 184; … )

Education:

• “Now people want to be admired by those and admire those who have something good in the way of honors….and they take account of prudent people as telling the truth, and their elders and educated people are of such a sort. (2.6.16-17, 1384b, Kennedy p. 134; Part 6, para. 2 [close to top] Online)
• “The kind of people who think they might suffer…those who have been educated; for they are discerning (2.8.4, Kennedy p. 139; Part 6, para. 1 [middle] Online)
• The uneducated and the educated: “This is the reason why the uneducated are more persuasive than the educated [when speaking] before crowds…for [the educated] reason with axioms [koina] and universals, [the uneducated] on the basis of what [particulars] they know and instances near their experience” (2.22.3, 1396a, Kennedy p. 169; … )

Youth Behavior:

• “The young are prone to….the desires of the body[, and] they are most inclined to pursue that relating to sex and they are powerless against this. (2.12.3, Kennedy p. 149; Part 12, para. 2 Online)
• Contrast with the old…
  • “People who are older and more or less past their prime have characters that are for the most part opposite of these” youths (2.13.1, Kennedy pp. 151-152; Part 13, para. 1)
• Contrast with those in their prime…
  • “It is evident that those in the prime of life will be between the young and old in character” (2.14.1, Kennedy pp. 152-153; Part 14, para. 1)

What else can we discuss?

Forge Ahead on Book 3 of On Rhetoric

Let’s head to Book 3 now. Maybe trying to discuss both books was too ambitious…Remember, these readings are supposed to be advantageous for critical thinking–just like topoi, critical thinking isn’t specific to any single discipline.