The Virtue Of Persuasion

Aristotle is the representative of the ancient Greek rhetoric,and his Rhetoric is the foundation work of western rhetoric.In Rhetoric,Aristotle constructs a systematic framework of rhetorical theory.He criticizes the rhetoric theories of predecessors at the first,especially the rhetoric of the sophists and the rhetoric of Plato.To be specific,the rhetoric of the sophists has the characteristics of sophism and arbitrary,but Plato completely denial of the rhetoric of sophists is not advisable.Aristotle firmly believes that it is necessary to establish the rhetoric of science,which he makes it as his mission.In Rhetoric,Aristotle firstly defines the concept of rhetoric,expounds two major ways of persuasion,three types of the rhetoric speech,four structures of text,the diction and style of speech and so on.Thus,the framework of rhetoric is established.However,Aristotle’s contribution of rhetoric is not only limited to the construction of the framework,but also reflected in his many specific rhetorical strategies.For instance,the speaker’s character would be the emphasized,and the speech should be make concrete analysis of concrete problems,which includes "teaching students according to their aptitude" and so on.These rhetorical strategies to highlight the characteristics of Aristotle’s Rhetoric are not only underlined the character of the persuading virtues,which include the speakers in the process of speech need to have good moral characters(moral virtue)and master good speech skills(theoretical virtue),but also emphasized from Aristotle’s Metaphysics to Nicomachean Ethics to Rhetoric which he insists on the attitude of drawing philosophy from heaven to the world steps by steps.