The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-7-2012

Abstract

There is a well-known question about Aristotle's view of rhetoric: on the one hand he inherited the typical Platonic disdain for rhetoric as a concealer of truth; but on the other he throws himself with verve into the elaboration of a rhetorical manual. This paper points up a little-noticed Aristotelian justification for rhetoric, one that sees rhetorical contests as means for discovering the truth; it asks how such an optimistic view might be grounded.

Notes

John Thorp presented “Aristotle’s Rhetorodicy” to the Society at its meeting with the American Philological Association in Philadelphia in 2012.

For information about the author see: http://www.uwo.ca/philosophy/people/thorp.html

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