Understanding Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Communication

- This week, we're going to define the term rhetoric. It's a key term in the area of communication, my area. We'll give some background on it

and talk about how we see rhetoric in our lives today. (enthusiastic music) - I'm Alex Lyon, be sure to check out

any of my online classes at the Communication Coach Academy. I'll put a link to that in the description below this video. My working definition of rhetoric

is the number one, art of persuasive speaking or writing, and number two, the effective use of language, arguments and various kinds of support to inform, motivate

or persuade an audience. The word rhetoric, though, has a certain connotation when we hear it used in everyday conversation.

You might hear somebody, for example, dismiss a politician's message as, "Oh, that's just rhetoric,"

as if to say that those are just words that sound good on the surface, but ultimately have no substance to back them up.

But the roots in this area of study have quite a rich history and a lot of depth. In school you see rhetoric classes in English departments,

and in my area, communication, where you'll sometimes hear rhetoric referred to as oratory or persuasive speaking.

Rhetoric is one of the oldest fields of study in human history, and its roots go back as early as about *400 BC.*

That field came together really at the confluence of two rivers that joined into one turbulent, powerful river.

And in one river, we have the sophists. In school, you might hear names of various sophists like Protagoras, Gorgias or Isocrates.

And I'm going to oversimplify this a lot, but these sophists were popular, paid teachers who taught their version of persuasive speaking.

These teachers claimed that they taught the weighty principles of things like virtue, wisdom and justice.

But critics say that the sophists mainly taught students the art of speaking eloquently and cleverly, but in a way

that did not really provide the substance, the rigor and the depth that the teacher promised. The sophists may not have delivered

on all of their promises, but they did contribute to a body of work around the art of speaking eloquently and persuasively,

which is still a really important contribution. In the other river, you have key historical figures like Plato, Aristotle and Cicero,

who added more depth and systematic thinking to that conversation about how to speak ethically, logically and persuasively.

In short, these philosophers added more of the substance and rigor that the sophists may have lacked.

So these two rivers came together in a turbulence. These two historical groups, the sophists and the philosophers debated each other,

they pushed each other's thinking, and ultimately both groups provided the body of water, or the body of work that represents the earliest theories

of communication, expression and argumentation. They didn't all get along and agree, but these players, and many others I didn't mention,

form the foundation of the field we now call rhetoric. They did this at a time when the world's first democracies were taking shape.

And they helped put communication-based skills at the center of societies, governments and communities. It was perhaps the first time

that the way you represented your ideas and yourself in public forums through persuasive communication meant almost as much

as the strength of your armies. The field of rhetoric, in part, is why we have expressions today

like the pen is mightier than the sword. These early rhetoricians showed us, in many societies, that communication was king.

Jump forward to today. We see principles of rhetoric in our writing classes as they teach us how to use language

and form arguments for maximum influence. We see rhetoric taught in classes like argumentation and debate, public speaking

and the study of free speech and politics. Some of those classes take students all the way back. Other classes include new writings and new scholars.

In fact, there's no way to even scratch the surface in a short video like this. I'm skipping over literally thousands of years.

On TV or online, you see people doing sometimes a breakdown of an important speech or a presidential debate. Those experts may have a background in rhetoric.

Students who study this area of communication sometimes become authors or speech writers. They might go into teaching, professional speaking.

They might become trainers of various sorts or go into government work. Many law students start

as undergraduate communication majors because they want to learn how to stand up and speak persuasively and debate in front of people.

Some rhetoric students go into marketing or business of various types. We see the full range of politicians, business people

and companies using principles of rhetoric to communicate their message in the most compelling way possible

on TV, online and in person. What practical insights can we take away from this? First, the term does not mean words without substance.

Rhetoric is a rich, complex and historic area of study. Second, these teachers and philosophers showed us that persuasive speaking

is not necessarily a natural born talent, but it's a learnable set of skills. You can take classes and get better with practice.

That was their whole point. Third, communication is a driving force in our society. The ability to tell your story, to advocate

and get a message out is practically mandatory these days. So the study of rhetoric is more relevant and more sophisticated than it is ever been.

Question of the day, how would you like to get better at using communication persuasively in your life? I'd love to hear your comments

in that section below the video. And as I mentioned, I invite you to take a look at some of my online classes

at the Communication Coach Academy. You may want to start with my free class on the five essential communication skills

that all professionals should have. I'll put a link below. So thanks, God bless, and I will see you soon.