Rhetoric is defined as the art of making speeches, and is therefore the favourite
study of politicians and lawyers. Plato and his contemporary philosophers in
the fourth century BC criticised the art of rhetoric on the ground that it concerned
itself with persuasion and took no account of principles. Despite
such condemnation, rhetoric became firmly established in ancient Greece, coming
to rank as a legitimate branch of logic.
Today we use a technique that some call ‘“persuasive definition”
to present a particular and restricted application of a term as if it constituted
a fundamental truth. In doing this we are in fact committing the sin envisaged
by Plato, of seeking to persuade instead of
establishing a fact through reasoning, not emotion.
The human faculty for seeking truth and solving problems we call reason, a quality
that is as admirable as rhetoric is sleazy. The process of reasoning, say the
philosophers, involves cogitation, or searching for truth, and also research
to determine what form of activity that reasoning should dictate. This is the
method of science, and if we adopted it more wholeheartedly we should avoid
much of the subjective and self-centred arguments which sway political leaders
and the politically led alike. There is a streak of perversity in humans which
prompts them to be swayed by empty rhetoric and remain unmoved by reasoned argument.
The question is, can this situation be improved through the processes of education?
Aristotle maintained that the way for rulers to secure support for their actions
from their public was to appeal to their emotions — an idea endorsed by
Niccolo Machiavelli in the 16th century. It is important to recognise that today
politicians use rhetoric as a means of provoking people to violence and of prompting
the public to make decisions under the influence of sheer emotion devoid of
logical assessment based on evidence.
It is the duty of science-based individuals to counteract such influence by
insisting that all the evidence be considered and given its full weight.