1. Aristotle
• Born in 384.
• From the
northwestern
edge of the
Greek Empire in
Stagira.
• Father was
physician to
King Amyntas of
Macedonia.
2. A Student of Plato
• Aristotle came to Athens
to study under Plato from
the age of 18 to 37.
• Eventually he classified
the branches of
knowledge into
categories, including:
physics, psychology,
poetics, logic, and
rhetoric.
3. Tutor of Alexander the
Great
• Around 340 B.C., when he was over 40, Aristotle
returned to his home, Stagira, and he became tutor to
the king’s son, soon to become Alexander the Great.
Alexander, through military campaigns, would later
expand the empire of Greece to cover all of the Mideast
reaching all the way to India.
4. Not Forgotten over the
Ages
• Through the ages Aristotle has
remained established as one
of the greatest philosophers
ever, which is why the famous
seventeenth century Dutch
artist Rembrandt represented
him gazing at a bust of the
Greek poet Homer, author of
The Odyssey.
• Four hundred years later, he
isn’t forgotten, though we have
a less sober way of
appreciating historical leaders.
Here we see him gazing at a
more contemporary Homer.
5. A Definition forRhetoric
• Rhetoric is, in essence,
the art of persuasion, and
Aristotle defined this art
as "the faculty of
observing in any given
case the available means
of persuasion." In other
words, it is the art of
finding the best way to
persuade a particular
audience in a particular
situation.
6. Aristotle’s Classical Appeals
Aristotle identified three appeals that can be used to
convince the audience. An appeal to ethos (to establish
the speaker’s character and values). An appeal to
pathos (to stir emotions). And an appeal to logos (to
show the audience the logic and truth of the argument).
7. The Rhetorical Triangle
• When you engage in rhetoric,
you are related to the audience
and your subject. A well-
balanced argument gives
attention to all three points of the
triangle, establishing your
authority (ethos), drawing the
audience emotionally (pathos),
and doing justice to the facts
(logos).
• However, if you give too much
emphasis to facts, you can fall
into a kind of distortion: making
the subject seem cold and
abstract. If you lean too much
toward the audience, you can
start to create propaganda. And
if you put to much emphasis on
your own character and values,
you will seem egotistical.
Subject
Logos
Possible Distortion:
Abstraction
Audience
Pathos
Possible Distortion:
Propaganda
Speaker
Ethos
Possible Distortion:
Egotism