What the Hell is Rhetoric Anyway?

It seems to me that the introduction to the Bizzell/Herzberg text provided a good synopsis of how rhetoric, or at least classical rhetoric, evolved out of the Sophistic Movement in Greece back in the fifth century B.C.E. Reading through it, I began to notice a pattern. The introduction did not only give a detailed description of the origin and evolution of rhetoric, but how it helped to sustain the social and political infrastructure of the areas in which rhetorical understanding was developed.

In mapping out the oligarchies that ruled Greece around the tenth century B.C.E., power shifted from city-state to city-state, depending on the strength of the rulers and their economic well-being. Even in the advent of democracy centuries later, political power was sustained by written law--a form of rhetoric. As more people began to earn literacy, the culture began to change. What classicist Eric Havelock calls "The culture of 'orality'" spurred the development of an oral tradition that employed the use of rhetoric as a tool to advance the culture. It was used by philosophers, sculptors, poets, playwrights and historians to advance their ideas. With the cultural explosion that followed Pericles's peace with Persia came the increase in the study of rhetoric. Eventually, Rome became the next all-powerful nation, growing rapidly because of the adept use of language.

What I'm trying to say here is that there appears to be a correlating pattern with the increase the study of rhetoric, or the understanding of the power of language, and an increase in political, social, and economic power. Large populations are organized and manipulated by the skillful employment of rhetoric. Great minds sway the opinions of other great minds by appealing to each other through language. Classes of people move up the social and economic structure as a result of becoming educated in the use of rhetoric. It is possible that there is a relative, historical curve of association with the success of men and nations and their ability to control language to suit their aims.

So, what the hell is rhetoric? It could be a means by which a person or group of persons can advance in life professionally, politically, and socially, depending, of course, upon the level of success in their ability to use language as a means by which to move forward in their repsective (or desirable) pursuits in life. That's one idea.