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Thinking Politically Compare and Contrast

   

Added on  2020-05-04

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Running head: THINKING POLITICALLYThinking PoliticallyCompare and contrast the treatment of rhetoric in the political thought of Plato andAristotle. Which view do you find more compelling?Name of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note

1THINKING POLITICALLYIntroductionThe rhetoric can be defined as the art discourse, in which the writer tends to persuade orinform a particular section of population or the audience (Jewel, 2016). Aristotle has given thebest definition of rhetoric whichopines that rhetoric can be defined as the combination of bothpolitics and logic. The rhetoric is considered as one of the most important works on persuasion.As compared to Aristotle, the theories of Plato mention that the subsequent theories of rhetoricare considered as response to the original theory being created by Aristotle (Goulimari, 2014).This can be attributed to the disciplinary divisions, which can be dated back to Peter Ramusattacks on Aristotle. This essay would analyze the different perspectives of both Aristotle andPlato. It would also argue on the views, which becomes more appealing.DiscussionPlato’s opinion regarding the rhetoriccan’t be considered as high opinion since in theGorgias, the concept of rhetoric was compared to that of “sham” which misguided men tocounsel with underlying principles (Cope, 2015). He argued that the rhetoric has the power tostand up against everyone else and it can win over vast multitudes of everything. He alsosupports the fact that if a man, after learning rhetoric, misuses his power, then it is not justifiableto ban and detest his teacher (Cope, 2015). This is because of the fact the teacher cannot beblamed for his teachings. He may have imparted instructions that were to be used in the rightcontext, but the pupil may have made wrong use of the same. Plato concluded that it is correct todetest the concerned misuser, kill him and instead spare his teacher (Cornford, 2014).The primary function of the rhetoric is to lead the souls and master this art form(Dominik, 2014). Plato engaged in the idea of exploring the nature of soul, on which rhetoric

2THINKING POLITICALLYwas to be used. He pondered upon the idea whether the soul was uniform, one or there areseveral kinds of the soul (Cope, 2015). If there is existence of different kinds of souls, then Platoalso pondered that whether the power of acting belonged to each individual soul or the overallones (Kastely, 2015). Plato found that the implications of this technique is interesting. Oneleader who is aware of the human nature should possess a diabolical power or divine power sothat he can use the human beings in a way he wishes to (Cope, 2015). In this situation, Plato hasmade a distinction between non-philosophical and philosophical uses of this art (Hegel, 2015).He opined the fact that a genuine rhetorician should be aware of the truth of the matters for thereason he is engaging in pursuing his people (Morrow, 1953, pp. 241). A man should know thedifference between two fundamental units so that he can actually persuade the people in a betterway. As compared to the views of Plato, rhetoric view of Aristotle usually focuses on theaspects of pathos and ethos. Both these concepts have been known to affect judgment(Furley&Nehamas, 2015). The ethos and pathos are known to affect the audience when it isimportant for the speaker to engage in persuasion with the audience. A third type of appeal wasalso pointed by Aristotle that is concerned with the logos, which the writer or the speaker shoulduse a tool for persuasion (Hegel, 2015). Aristotle argued that the ethos is portrayed during the actof persuasion and it is concerned with the characteristics of the speaker. There are three basicpre-requisites which are needed to appear credible (Hegel, 2015).They are competence, empathyand good intention (Yack, 2006, pp. 421). The speaker’s ethos is usually transmitted through themodes of self-portrayal, which is influenced further by paraverbal and non-verbal factors(Gallez& Reynders, 2015). There is no general good or general bad which is relevant inimpression management and self-portrayal. Each action should always be interpreted in the

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