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Aristotle says rhetoric is the counterpart (antistrophe) of dialectic. [1]: I.1.1–2 He explains the similarities between the two but fails to comment on the differences. Here he introduces the term enthymeme. [1]: I.1.3 Chapter Two Aristotle defines rhetoric as the ability in a particular case to see the available means of persuasion.
Hence, rhetorical reason is a modality of phronesis and also, as Aristotle famously notes, a counterpart of dialectic. That is, it depends upon practical wisdom for its proper work, and, in that work, it operates much like dialectical inference, only its proper domain is the particular case as opposed to the general question.
Aristotle, in his works on rhetoric, answered Plato's charges by arguing that reason and rhetoric are intertwined ("Rhetoric is the counterpart of Dialectic" is the first sentence of his Rhetoric). In Aristotle's view, dialectical reasoning is the mechanism for discovering universal truths; rhetoric is the method for clarifying and ...
Aristotle's treatise on rhetoric systematically describes civic rhetoric as a human art or skill (techne). It is more of an objective theory [clarification needed] than it is an interpretive theory with a rhetorical tradition. Aristotle's art of rhetoric emphasizes persuasion as the purpose of rhetoric.
Aristotle referred to the enthymeme as "the body of proof", "the strongest of rhetorical proofs...a kind of syllogism" (Rhetoric I, 1.3,11). He considered it to be one of two kinds of proof, the other of which was the paradeigma. Maxims, Aristotle thought, were a derivative of enthymemes. (Rhetoric II.XX.1).
The modes of persuasion, modes of appeal or rhetorical appeals (Greek: pisteis) are strategies of rhetoric that classify a speaker's or writer's appeal to their audience. These include ethos , pathos , and logos , all three of which appear in Aristotle's Rhetoric . [ 1 ]
Following Aristotle's theory, Roman Senator Cicero explained that by adapting to the emotions of the audience, one can be successful in gaining their respect and attention. [15] Similarly, according to Ross Wintered, speakers and authors adjust their rhetorical stance to accommodate a particular audience. [16]
In his treatise Topics, Aristotle does not explicitly define topic, though it is "at least primarily a strategy for argument not infrequently justified or explained by a principle". [2] He characterises it in the Rhetoric [3] thus: "I call the same thing element and topic; for an element or a topic is a heading under which many enthymemes fall."