Classical Greek Rhetorical Theory and the Disciplining of Discourse

by Edward Schiappa

This book contributes to the history of classical rhetoric by focusing on how key terms helped to conceptualise and organise the study and teaching of oratory. David Timmerman and Edward Schiappa demonstrate that the intellectual and political history of Greek rhetorical theory can be enhanced by a better understanding of the emergence of 'terms of art' in texts about persuasive speaking and argumentation. The authors provide a series of studies to support their argument. They describe Plato's disciplining of dialgesthai into the Art of Dialectic, Socrates' alternative vision of philosophia, and Aristotle's account of demegoria and symboule as terms for political deliberation. The authors also revisit competing receptions of the Rhetoric to Alexander. Additionally, they examine the argument over when the different parts of oration were formalised in rhetorical theory, illustrating how an 'old school' focus on vocabulary can provide fresh perspectives on persistent questions.

ebook

First published November 17, 2010

About the author

Anthony Edward Schiappa, Jr. is an American scholar of communication and rhetoric, currently Professor of Comparative Media Studies/Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he holds the John E. Burchard Chair of Humanities; from 2013 to 2019, he also served as the program's Head. Previously, he spent seventeen years in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, the last seven of which he served as chair. He is the author of eight books and numerous articles that have appeared in classics, communication, English/Composition, philosophy, psychology, and law journals.