Editing Rhetoric (section)

==History and development==
Rhetoric is a persuasive speech that holds people to a common purpose and therefore facilitates collective action. During the fifth century BCE, Athens had become active in metropolis and people all over there. During this time the Greek city state had been experimenting with a new form of government – democracy, ''demos'', "the people". Political and cultural identity had been tied to the city area – the citizens of Athens formed institutions to the red processes: are the Senate, jury trials, and forms of public discussions, but people needed to learn how to navigate these new institutions. With no forms of passing on the information, other than word of mouth the Athenians needed an effective strategy to inform the people. A group of wandering Sicilians, later known as the '''Sophists''', began teaching the Athenians persuasive speech, with the goal of navigating the courts and senate. The sophists became speech teachers known as ''Sophia;'' Greek for "wisdom" and root for philosophy, or "''love of wisdom"'' – the sophists came to be common term for someone who sold wisdom for money.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal |date=2021-11-18 |title=Creating the Ancient Rhetorical Tradition: Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Rome |journal=Creating the Ancient Rhetorical Tradition |pages=137–244 |doi=10.1017/9781108873956.008|isbn=978-1-108-87395-6 |s2cid=243489639 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Although there is no clear understanding why the Sicilians engaged to educating the Athenians persuasive speech. It is known that the Athenians did, indeed rely on persuasive speech, more during public speak, and four new political processes, also increasing the sophists trainings leading too many victories for legal cases, public debate, and even a simple persuasive speech. This ultimately led to concerns rising on falsehood over truth, with highly trained, persuasive speakers, knowingly, misinforming.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Rhetoric has its origins in [[Mesopotamia]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book |first=William W. |last=Hallo |chapter=The Birth of Rhetoric |title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |editor1-first=Carol S. |editor1-last=Lipson |editor2-first=Roberta A. |editor2-last=Binkley |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |pages=25–46}}</ref> Some of the earliest examples of rhetoric can be found in the [[Akkadian literature|Akkadian writings]] of the princess and priestess [[Enheduanna]] ({{circa|{{BCE|2285–2250}}}}).<ref name=":1">{{cite book |first=Roberta |last=Binkley |chapter=The Rhetoric of Origins and the Other: Reading the Ancient Figure of Enheduanna |title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |editor1-first=Carol S. |editor1-last=Lipson |editor2-first=Roberta A. |editor2-last=Binkley |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |pages=47–64}}</ref> As the first named author in history,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Enheduanna's writing exhibits numerous rhetorical features that would later become canon in Ancient Greece. Enheduanna's "The Exaltation of [[Inanna]]", includes an [[Exordium (rhetoric)|exordium]], [[argument]], and [[peroration]],<ref name=":0" /> as well as elements of {{transliteration|grc|ethos}}, {{transliteration|grc|pathos}}, and {{transliteration|grc|logos}},<ref name=":1" /> and repetition and [[metonymy]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Binkley|first=R.|year=2004|chapter=Suggestions for Teaching Ancient Rhetorics: Mesopotamia – Problems of Origins and Reading Enheduanna|editor-last1=Lipson|editor-first1=C. S.|editor-last2=Binkley|editor-first2=R. A.|title=Rhetoric Before and Beyond the Greeks|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|pages=227–29}}</ref> She is also known for describing her process of invention in "The Exaltation of Inanna", moving between first- and third-person address to relate her composing process in collaboration with the goddess Inanna,<ref name=":1" /> reflecting a mystical [[enthymeme]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stark|first=R. J.|year=2008|title=Some Aspects of Christian Mystical Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Poetry|journal=Philosophy and Rhetoric|volume=41|number=3|pages=260–77|doi=10.2307/25655316 |jstor=25655316 }}</ref> in drawing upon a Cosmic audience.<ref name=":1" />

Later examples of early rhetoric can be found in the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] during the time of [[Sennacherib]] ({{BCE|704–681}}).<ref>{{cite book |first1=Paul Y.|last1=Hoskisson|first2=Grant M.|last2=Boswell |chapter=Neo-Assyrian Rhetoric: The Example of the Third Campaign of Sennacherib (704–681 BC) |title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |editor1=Carol S. Lipson |editor2 = Roberta A. Binkley |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |pages=65–78}}</ref>

In [[ancient Egypt]], rhetoric had existed since at least the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom period]] ({{circa|{{BCE|2080–1640}}}}). The five canons of eloquence in ancient Egyptian rhetoric were silence, timing, restraint, fluency, and truthfulness.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal|last=Fox|first=Michael V.|year=1983|title=Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/rhetorica/article/1/1/9/81987/Ancient-Egyptian-Rhetoric|url-access=subscription|journal=Rhetorica|language=en|volume=1|issue=1|pages=9–22|doi=10.1525/rh.1983.1.1.9|issn=0734-8584}}
|2={{cite book | last1=Glenn | first1=Cheryl | last2=Ratcliffe | first2=Krista | title=Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts | publisher=Southern Illinois University Press | location=Carbondale | date=2011-01-05 | isbn=978-0-8093-3017-1}}
}}</ref> The [[Egyptians]] held eloquent speaking in high esteem. Egyptian rules of rhetoric specified that "knowing when not to speak is essential, and very respected, rhetorical knowledge", making rhetoric a "balance between eloquence and wise silence". They also emphasized "adherence to social behaviors that support a conservative status quo" and they held that "skilled speech should support, not question, society".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric in the Old and Middle Kingdoms |first=David |last=Hutto |journal=[[Rhetorica]] |date=Summer 2002 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=213–33 |doi=10.1525/rh.2002.20.3.213 |s2cid=55717336 }}</ref>

In [[ancient China]], rhetoric dates back to the [[Chinese philosophy|Chinese philosopher]], [[Confucius]] ({{BCE|551–479}}). The tradition of [[Confucianism]] emphasized the use of [[eloquence]] in speaking.<ref>{{cite book |first=George Q. |last=Xu |chapter=The Use of Eloquence: The Confucian Perspective |title = Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |editor1-first=Carol S. |editor1-last=Lipson |editor2-first=Roberta A. |editor2-last=Binkley |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |pages=115–30}}</ref>

The use of rhetoric can also be found in the ancient [[Biblical]] tradition.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Metzger |chapter=Pentateuchal Rhetoric and the Voice of the Aaronides |title = Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks |editor1-first=Carol S. |editor1-last=Lipson |editor2-first=Roberta A. |editor2-last=Binkley |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7914-6099-3 |pages=165–82}}</ref>

===Ancient Greece===
In Europe, organized thought about public speaking began in [[ancient Greece]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=G.A.|year=1994|title=A New History of Classical Rhetoric|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=3}}</ref>

In [[ancient Greece]], the earliest mention of oratorical skill occurs in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', in which heroes like [[Achilles]], [[Hector]], and [[Odysseus]] were honored for their ability to advise and exhort their peers and followers (the {{transliteration|grc|Laos}} or army) to wise and appropriate action. With the rise of the democratic {{transliteration|grc|polis}}, speaking skill was adapted to the needs of the public and political life of cities in ancient Greece. Greek citizens used [[oratory (speech)|oratory]] to make political and judicial decisions, and to develop and disseminate philosophical ideas. For modern students, it can be difficult to remember that the wide use and availability of written texts is a phenomenon that was just coming into vogue in [[Classical Greece]]. In Classical times, many of the great thinkers and political leaders performed their works before an audience, usually in the context of a competition or contest for fame, political influence, and cultural capital. In fact, many of them are known only through the texts that their students, followers, or detractors wrote down. {{transliteration|grc|Rhetor}} was the Greek term for "orator": A {{transliteration|grc|rhetor}} was a citizen who regularly addressed juries and political assemblies and who was thus understood to have gained some knowledge about public speaking in the process, though in general facility with language was often referred to as {{transliteration|grc|logôn techne}}, "skill with arguments" or "verbal artistry".<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|author-link=Mogens Herman Hansen|first=Mogens Herman|last=Hansen|title=The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes|publisher=Blackwell|year=1991}}
|2={{cite book|first=Josiah|last=Ober|title=Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1989}}
|3={{cite book|first=Jeffrey|last=Walker|title=Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000}}
}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2023}}

Possibly the first study about the power of language may be attributed to the philosopher [[Empedocles]] (d. {{circa|{{BCE|444}}}}), whose theories on human knowledge would provide a basis for many future rhetoricians. The first written manual is attributed to [[Corax of Syracuse|Corax]] and his pupil [[Tisias]]. Their work, as well as that of many of the early rhetoricians, grew out of the courts of law; Tisias, for example, is believed to have written judicial speeches that others delivered in the courts.

Rhetoric evolved as an important art, one that provided the orator with the forms, means, and strategies for persuading an audience of the correctness of the orator's arguments. Today the term ''rhetoric'' can be used at times to refer only to the form of argumentation, often with the pejorative connotation that rhetoric is a means of obscuring the truth. Classical [[philosopher]]s believed quite the contrary: the skilled use of rhetoric was essential to the discovery of truths, because it provided the means of ordering and clarifying arguments.

====Sophists====
{{Main|Sophist|l1=Sophists}}

Teaching in oratory was popularized in {{BCE|the 5th century}} by itinerant teachers known as [[sophist]]s, the best known of whom were [[Protagoras]] ({{circa|{{BCE|481–420}}}}), [[Gorgias]] ({{circa|{{BCE|483–376}}}}), and [[Isocrates]] ({{BCE|436–338}}). [[Aspasia]] of Miletus is believed to be one of the first women to engage in private and public rhetorical activities as a Sophist.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/rhetoricaltradit00bizz |title=The Rhetorical tradition: readings from classical times to the present |publisher=Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-312-00348-7 |editor1-last=Bizzell |editor1-first=Patricia |location=Boston |pages=232 |oclc=21325600 |editor2-last=Herzberg |editor2-first=Bruce |url-access=registration}}</ref> The Sophists were a disparate group who travelled from city to city, teaching in public places to attract students and offer them an education. Their central focus was on {{transliteration|grc|logos}}, or what we might broadly refer to as discourse, its functions and powers.{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} They defined parts of speech, analyzed poetry, parsed close synonyms, invented argumentation strategies, and debated the nature of reality.{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} They claimed to make their students better, or, in other words, to teach virtue. They thus claimed that human excellence was not an accident of fate or a prerogative of noble birth, but an art or "{{transliteration|grc|techne}}" that could be taught and learned. They were thus among the first humanists.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-10-01 |title=on humanism past & present {{!}} American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.amacad.org/publication/daedalus/humanism-past-present |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=www.amacad.org |language=en}}</ref>

Several Sophists also questioned received wisdom about the gods and the Greek culture, which they believed was taken for granted by Greeks of their time, making these Sophists among the first agnostics. For example, some argued that cultural practices were a function of convention or {{transliteration|grc|[[Law|nomos]]}} rather than blood or birth or {{transliteration|grc|[[phusis]]}}.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Taylor |first1=C.C.W. |title=The Sophists |date=2020 |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sophists/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |edition=Fall 2020 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |last2=Lee |first2=Mi-Kyoung}}</ref> They argued further that the morality or immorality of any action could not be judged outside of the cultural context within which it occurred. The well-known phrase, "Man is the measure of all things" arises from this belief.{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} One of the Sophists' most famous, and infamous, doctrines has to do with probability and counter arguments. They taught that every argument could be countered with an opposing argument, that an argument's effectiveness derived from how "likely" it appeared to the audience (its probability of seeming true), and that any probability argument could be countered with an inverted probability argument. Thus, if it seemed likely that a strong, poor man were guilty of robbing a rich, weak man, the strong poor man could argue, on the contrary, that this very likelihood (that he would be a suspect) makes it unlikely that he committed the crime, since he would most likely be apprehended for the crime.{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} They also taught and were known for their ability to make the weaker (or worse) argument the stronger (or better).{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} [[Aristophanes]] famously parodies the clever inversions that sophists were known for in his play ''[[The Clouds]]''.{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}}

The word "sophistry" developed negative connotations in ancient Greece that continue today, but in ancient Greece, Sophists were popular and well-paid professionals, respected for their abilities and also criticized for their excesses.

According to William Keith and Christian Lundberg, as the Greek society shifted towards more democratic values, the Sophists were responsible for teaching the newly democratic Greek society the importance of persuasive speech and strategic communication for its new governmental institutions.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Keith |first1=William M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/166373607 |title=The essential guide to rhetoric |last2=Lundberg |first2=Christian O. |date=2008 |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |isbn=978-0-312-47239-9 |location=Boston |oclc=166373607}}</ref>

====Isocrates====
{{Main|Isocrates}}

Isocrates ({{BCE|436–338}}), like the Sophists, taught public speaking as a means of human improvement, but he worked to distinguish himself from the Sophists, whom he saw as claiming far more than they could deliver. He suggested that while an art of virtue or excellence did exist, it was only one piece, and the least, in a process of self-improvement that relied much more on honing one's talent, desire, constant practice, and the imitation of good models. Isocrates believed that practice in speaking publicly about noble themes and important questions would improve the character of both speaker and audience while also offering the best service to a city. Isocrates was an outspoken champion of rhetoric as a mode of civic engagement.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|author=[[Isocrates]]|chapter=Against the Sophists|title=Isocrates with an English Translation|translator-first=George|translator-last=Norlin|translator-link=George Norlin|location=New York|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|year=1929|volume=II|pages=160–177|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isocrateswitheng02isocuoft/page/159/mode/1up|orig-date={{circa|{{BCE|392}}}} }}
|2={{cite book|author=[[Isocrates]]|chapter=Antidosis|title=Isocrates with an English Translation|translator-first=George|translator-last=Norlin|translator-link=George Norlin|location=New York|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|year=1929|volume=II|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isocrateswitheng02isocuoft/page/179/mode/1up|pages=181–365|orig-date={{circa|{{BCE|353}}}} }}
}}</ref> He thus wrote his speeches as "models" for his students to imitate in the same way that poets might imitate Homer or Hesiod, seeking to inspire in them a desire to attain fame through civic leadership. His was the first permanent school in [[Athens]] and it is likely that [[Plato's Academy]] and [[Aristotle's Lyceum]] were founded in part as a response to Isocrates. Though he left no handbooks, his speeches (''"[[Antidosis (treatise)|Antidosis]]"'' and ''"[[Against the Sophists]]"'' are most relevant to students of rhetoric) became models of oratory and keys to his entire educational program. He was one of the canonical "[[Ten Attic Orators]]". He influenced [[Cicero]] and [[Quintilian]], and through them, the entire educational system of the west.

====Plato====
{{Main|Plato|Platonism}}
[[Plato]] ({{BCE|427–347}}) outlined the differences between true and false rhetoric in a number of dialogues—particularly the ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'' and ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'', dialogues in which Plato disputes the [[sophistry|sophistic]] notion that the art of persuasion (the Sophists' art, which he calls "rhetoric"), can exist independent of the art of [[dialectic]]. Plato claims that since Sophists appeal only to what seems probable, they are not advancing their students and audiences, but simply flattering them with what they want to hear. While Plato's condemnation of rhetoric is clear in the ''Gorgias'', in the ''Phaedrus'' he suggests the possibility of a true art wherein rhetoric is based upon the knowledge produced by dialectic. He relies on a dialectically informed rhetoric to appeal to the main character, Phaedrus, to take up philosophy. Thus Plato's rhetoric is actually dialectic (or philosophy) "turned" toward those who are not yet philosophers and are thus unready to pursue dialectic directly. Plato's animosity against rhetoric, and against the Sophists, derives not only from their inflated claims to teach virtue and their reliance on appearances, but from the fact that his teacher, Socrates, was sentenced to death after Sophists' efforts.

Some scholars, however, see Plato not as an opponent of rhetoric but rather as a nuanced rhetorical theorist who dramatized rhetorical practice in his dialogues and imagined rhetoric as more than just oratory.{{r|KBB}}

==== Aristotle ====
[[File:Aristotle Altemps Inv8575.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A marble bust of Aristotle]]
{{Main|Rhetoric (Aristotle)}}Aristotle: Rhetoric is an antistrophes to dialectic. "Let rhetoric [be defined as] an ability [dynamis], in each [particular] case, to see the available means of persuasion." "Rhetoric is a counterpart of dialectic" — an art of practical civic reasoning, applied to deliberative, judicial, and "display" speeches in political assemblies, lawcourts, and other public gatherings.{{more citations needed section|date=September 2013}}

[[Aristotle]] ({{BCE|384–322}}) was a student of Plato who set forth an extended treatise on rhetoric that still repays careful study today. In the first sentence of ''[[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|The Art of Rhetoric]]'', Aristotle says that "rhetoric is the {{transliteration|grc|[[antistrophe]]}} of dialectic".<ref name=Aristotle>{{cite book|author=Aristotle|title=Rhetoric}}</ref>{{rp|at=I.1}} As the "{{transliteration|grc|antistrophe}}" of a Greek [[ode]] responds to and is patterned after the structure of the "{{transliteration|grc|[[strophe]]}}" (they form two sections of the whole and are sung by two parts of the chorus), so the art of rhetoric follows and is structurally patterned after the art of dialectic because both are arts of discourse production. While dialectical methods are necessary to find truth in theoretical matters, rhetorical methods are required in practical matters such as adjudicating somebody's guilt or innocence when charged in a court of law, or adjudicating a prudent course of action to be taken in a deliberative assembly.

For Plato and Aristotle, dialectic involves persuasion, so when Aristotle says that rhetoric is the {{transliteration|grc|antistrophe}} of dialectic, he means that rhetoric as he uses the term has a domain or scope of application that is parallel to, but different from, the domain or scope of application of dialectic. Claude Pavur explains that "[t]he Greek prefix 'anti' does not merely designate opposition, but it can also mean 'in place of'".<ref>{{cite book|last=Pavur|first=Claude Nicholas|title=Nietzsche Humanist|year=1998|publisher=Marquette University Press|page=129}}</ref>

Aristotle's treatise on rhetoric systematically describes civic rhetoric as a human art or skill ({{transliteration|grc|techne}}). It is more of {{clarify|reason=what does that mean?|text=an objective theory|date=September 2023}} than it is an interpretive theory with a rhetorical tradition. Aristotle's art of rhetoric emphasizes persuasion as the purpose of rhetoric. His definition of rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion", essentially a mode of discovery, limits the art to the inventional process; Aristotle emphasizes the logical aspect of this process. A speaker supports the probability of a message by logical, ethical, and emotional proofs.

Aristotle identifies three steps or "offices" of rhetoric—invention, arrangement, and style—and three different types of rhetorical proof:{{r|Aristotle|at=I.2}}
; {{transliteration|grc|[[ethos]]}} : Aristotle's theory of character and how the character and credibility of a speaker can influence an audience to consider him/her to be believable—there being three qualities that contribute to a credible ethos: perceived intelligence, virtuous character, and goodwill
; {{transliteration|grc|[[pathos]]}} : the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience's judgment through metaphor, amplification, storytelling, or presenting the topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience
; {{transliteration|grc|[[logos]]}} : the use of reasoning, either [[Inductive reasoning|inductive]] or [[Deductive reasoning|deductive]], to construct an argument

Aristotle emphasized ''[[Deductive reasoning|enthymematic reasoning]]'' as central to the process of rhetorical invention, though later rhetorical theorists placed much less emphasis on it. An "enthymeme" follows the form of a [[syllogism]], however it excludes either the major or minor premise. An enthymeme is persuasive because the audience provides the missing premise. Because the audience participates in providing the missing premise, they are more likely to be persuaded by the message.

Aristotle identified three different types or genres of civic rhetoric:{{r|Aristotle|at=I.3}}
; [[Forensic rhetoric|Forensic]] (also known as judicial) : concerned with determining the truth or falseness of events that took place in the past and issues of guilt—for example, in a courtroom{{r|Aristotle|at=I.10–15}}
; [[Deliberative rhetoric|Deliberative]] (also known as political) : concerned with determining whether or not particular actions should or should not be taken in the future—for example, making laws
; [[Epideictic]] (also known as ceremonial) : concerned with praise and blame, values, right and wrong, demonstrating beauty and skill in the present—for example, a eulogy or a wedding toast

Another Aristotelian doctrine was the idea of topics (also referred to as [[The Common Topics|common topics]] or commonplaces). Though the term had a wide range of application (as a memory technique or compositional exercise, for example) it most often referred to the "seats of argument"—the list of categories of thought or modes of reasoning—that a speaker could use to generate arguments or proofs. The topics were thus a heuristic or inventional tool designed to help speakers categorize and thus better retain and apply frequently used types of argument. For example, since we often see effects as "like" their causes, one way to invent an argument (about a future effect) is by discussing the cause (which it will be "like"). This and other rhetorical topics derive from Aristotle's belief that there are certain predictable ways in which humans (particularly non-specialists) draw conclusions from premises. Based upon and adapted from his dialectical Topics, the rhetorical topics became a central feature of later rhetorical theorizing, most famously in Cicero's work of that name.

===India===
{{further|Ancient Indian rhetoric}}
''[[India's Struggle for Independence]]'' offers a vivid description of the culture that sprang up around the newspaper in village India of the early 1870s:
{{Blockquote|A newspaper would reach remote villages and would then be read by a reader to tens of others. Gradually library movements sprung up all over the country. A local 'library' would be organized around a single newspaper. A table, a bench or two or a ''charpoy'' would constitute the capital equipment. Every piece of news or editorial comment would be read or heard and thoroughly discussed. The newspaper not only became the political educator; reading or discussing it became a form of political participation.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[India's Struggle for Independence]]|first1=Bipan|last1=Chandra|first2=Mridula|last2=Mukherjee|first3=Aditya|last3=Mukherjee|first4=Sucheta|last4=Mahajan|first5=K.N.|last5=Panikkar|year=1987|publisher=Penguin Random House|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiasstrugglefo0000unse/page/103/mode/1up 103]}}</ref>}}

This reading and discussion was the focal point of origin of the modern Indian rhetorical movement. Much before this, ancients such as [[Kautilya]], [[Birbal]], and the like indulged in a great deal of discussion and persuasion.

Keith Lloyd argued that much of the recital of the [[Vedas]] can be likened to the recital of ancient Greek poetry.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Lloyd | first=Keith | title=Rethinking Rhetoric from an Indian Perspective: Implications in the ''Nyaya Sutra'' | journal=Rhetoric Review | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=26 | issue=4 | year= 2007 | issn=0735-0198 | doi=10.1080/07350190701577892 | pages=365–384| s2cid=43698162 }}</ref> Lloyd proposed including the ''[[Nyāya Sūtras]]'' in the field of rhetorical studies, exploring its methods within their historical context, comparing its approach to the traditional logical syllogism, and relating it to modern perspectives of [[Stephen Toulmin]], [[Kenneth Burke]], and [[Chaim Perelman]].

{{transliteration|sa|Nyaya}} is a Sanskrit word which means "just" or "right" and refers to "the science of right and wrong reasoning".<ref name=RadMoo>{{cite book|first1=Sarvepalli|last1=Radhakrishnan|first2=Charles A.|last2=Moore|title=A Source Book in Indian Philosophy|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1957}}</ref>{{rp|356}}
{{transliteration|sa|Sutra}} is also a Sanskrit word which means string or thread. Here sutra refers to a collection of aphorism in the form of a manual. Each sutra is a short rule usually consisted of one or two sentences. An example of a sutra is: "Reality is truth, and what is true is so, irrespective of whether we know it is, or are aware of that truth." The ''Nyāya Sūtras'' is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by [[Aksapada Gautama]]. It is the foundational text of the [[Nyaya]] school of Hindu philosophy. It is estimated that the text was composed between {{BCE|6th-century}} and {{CE|2nd-century}}. The text may have been composed by more than one author, over a period of time.<ref>{{cite book | last=Zimmer | first=Heinrich | title=Philosophies of India | publisher=Routledge | location=London | date=2008 | isbn=978-0-415-46232-7}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref> Radhakrishan and Moore placed its origin in the {{BCE|third century}} "though some of the contents of the Nyaya Sutra are certainly a post-Christian era".{{r|RadMoo|page=36}} The ancient school of Nyaya extended over a period of one thousand years, beginning with Gautama about {{BCE|550}} and ending with Vatsyayana about {{CE|400}}.<ref>{{cite book | last=Sinha | first=Nandalal | title=The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | location=Delhi | date=1990-12-31 | isbn=81-208-0748-0}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref>

Nyaya provides insight into Indian rhetoric. Nyaya presents an argumentative approach with which a rhetor can decide about any argument. In addition, it proposes an approach to thinking about cultural tradition which is different from Western rhetoric. Whereas Toulmin emphasizes the situational dimension of argumentative genre as the fundamental component of any rhetorical logic; Nyaya views this situational rhetoric {{Vague|reason=|text=in a new way which offers context of practical arguments|date=September 2023}}.

Some of India's famous rhetors include [[Kabir Das]], [[Rahim Das]], [[Chanakya]], and [[Chandragupt Maurya]].

===Rome===

====Cicero====
[[File:Thorvaldsen Cicero.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero]]
{{Main|Cicero|Asiatic style|De Inventione|De Oratore|Brutus (Cicero)|De Optimo Genere Oratorum|De Partitionibus Oratoriae}}

For the Romans, oration became an important part of public life. [[Cicero]] ({{BCE|106–43}}) was chief among Roman rhetoricians and remains the best known ancient orator and the only orator who both spoke in public and produced treatises on the subject. ''[[Rhetorica ad Herennium]]'', formerly attributed to Cicero but now considered to be of unknown authorship, is one of the most significant works on rhetoric and is still widely used as a reference today. It is an extensive reference on the use of rhetoric, and in the [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]], it achieved wide publication as an advanced school text on rhetoric.

Cicero charted a middle path between the competing [[Atticism|Attic]] and [[Asiatic style]]s to become considered second only to [[Demosthenes]] among history's orators.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gesine|last=Manuwald|chapter=Relevance of Demosthenes and Atticism|title=Cicero, Philippics 3–9|volume=1|location=Berlin|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2007|pages=129ff}}</ref> His works include the early and very influential ''[[De Inventione]]'' (On Invention, often read alongside ''Ad Herennium'' as the two basic texts of rhetorical theory throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance), ''[[De Oratore]]'' (a fuller statement of rhetorical principles in dialogue form), ''[[Topica (Cicero)|Topics]]'' (a rhetorical treatment of common topics, highly influential through the Renaissance), ''[[Brutus (Cicero)|Brutus]]'' (a discussion of famous orators), and ''[[Orator (Cicero)|Orator]]'' (a defense of Cicero's style). Cicero also left a large body of speeches and letters which would establish the outlines of Latin eloquence and style for generations.

The rediscovery of Cicero's speeches (such as [[Pro Archia Poeta|the defense of Archias]]) and letters ([[Epistulae ad Atticum|to Atticus]]) by Italians like [[Petrarch]] helped to ignite the Renaissance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Petrarch {{!}} Western Civilization |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/petrarch/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>

Cicero championed the learning of Greek (and Greek rhetoric), contributed to Roman ethics, linguistics, philosophy, and politics, and emphasized the importance of all forms of appeal (emotion, humor, stylistic range, irony, and digression in addition to pure reasoning) in oratory. But perhaps his most significant contribution to subsequent rhetoric, and education in general, was his argument that orators learn not only about the specifics of their case (the ''hypothesis'') but also about the general questions from which they derived (the ''theses'').{{citation needed|reason=|date=September 2023}} Thus, in giving a speech in defense of a poet whose Roman citizenship had been questioned, the orator should examine not only the specifics of that poet's civic status, he should also examine the role and value of poetry and of literature more generally in Roman culture and political life. The orator, said Cicero, needed to be knowledgeable about all areas of human life and culture, including law, politics, history, literature, ethics, warfare, medicine, and even arithmetic and geometry. Cicero gave rise to the idea that the "ideal orator" be well-versed in all branches of learning: an idea that was rendered as "liberal humanism", and that lives on today in liberal arts or general education requirements in colleges and universities around the world.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cicero|title=De Inventione|at=I.35}}</ref>

====Quintilian====
{{Main|Quintilian|Byzantine rhetoric}}

{{unreferenced section|date=July 2010}}

Quintilian ({{CE|35–100}}) began his career as a pleader in the courts of law; his reputation grew so great that [[Vespasian]] created a chair of rhetoric for him in Rome. The culmination of his life's work was the ''[[Institutio Oratoria]]'' (''Institutes of Oratory,'' or alternatively, ''The Orator's Education''), a lengthy treatise on the training of the orator, in which he discusses the training of the "perfect" orator from birth to old age and, in the process, reviews the doctrines and opinions of many influential rhetoricians who preceded him.

In the ''Institutes'', Quintilian organizes rhetorical study through the stages of education that an aspiring orator would undergo, beginning with the selection of a nurse. Aspects of elementary education (training in reading and writing, grammar, and literary criticism) are followed by preliminary rhetorical exercises in composition (the {{transliteration|grc|[[progymnasmata]]}}) that include maxims and fables, narratives and comparisons, and finally full legal or political speeches. The delivery of speeches within the context of education or for entertainment purposes became widespread and popular under the term "declamation".

This work was available only in fragments in medieval times, but the discovery of a complete copy at the [[Abbey of St. Gall]] in 1416 led to its emergence as one of the most influential works on rhetoric during the Renaissance.

Quintilian's work describes not just the art of rhetoric, but the formation of the perfect orator as a politically active, virtuous, publicly minded citizen. His emphasis was on the ethical application of rhetorical training, in part in reaction against the tendency in Roman schools toward standardization of themes and techniques. At the same time that rhetoric was becoming divorced from political decision making, rhetoric rose as a culturally vibrant and important mode of entertainment and cultural criticism in a movement known as the "[[Second Sophistic]]", a development that gave rise to the charge (made by Quintilian and others) that teachers were emphasizing style over substance in rhetoric.

===Medieval to Enlightenment===
After the breakup of the western Roman Empire, the study of rhetoric continued to be central to the study of the verbal arts. However the study of the verbal arts went into decline for several centuries, followed eventually by a gradual rise in formal education, culminating in the rise of medieval universities. Rhetoric transmuted during this period into the arts of letter writing ({{lang|la|[[ars dictaminis]]}}) and sermon writing ({{lang|la|ars praedicandi}}). As part of the {{lang|la|[[trivium (education)|trivium]]}}, rhetoric was secondary to the study of logic, and its study was highly scholastic: students were given repetitive exercises in the creation of discourses on historical subjects ({{lang|la|suasoriae}}) or on classic legal questions ({{lang|la|controversiae}}).

Although he is not commonly regarded as a rhetorician, [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] (354–430) was trained in rhetoric and was at one time a professor of Latin rhetoric in Milan. After his conversion to Christianity, he became interested in using these "[[Paganism|pagan]]" arts for spreading his religion. He explores this new use of rhetoric in ''[[De doctrina Christiana]]'', which laid the foundation of what would become [[homiletics]], the rhetoric of the sermon. Augustine asks why "the power of eloquence, which is so efficacious in pleading either for the erroneous cause or the right", should not be used for righteous purposes.<ref>{{cite book|author=Augustine of Hippo|title=De doctrina Christiana|at=[https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0137/__P3I.HTM IV.2]|quote={{lang|la|Cum ergo sit in medio posita facultas eloquii, quae ad persuadenda seu prava seu recta valet plurimum, cur non bonorum studio comparatur, ut militet veritati, si eam mali ad obtinendas perversas vanasque causas in usus iniquitatis et erroris usurpant?}}}}</ref>

One early concern of the medieval Christian church was its attitude to classical rhetoric itself. [[Jerome]] (d. 420) complained, "What has [[Horace]] to do with the Psalms, [[Virgil]] with the Gospels, Cicero with the Apostles?"<ref>{{cite book|author=Jerome of Stridon|title=Letters of St. Jerome|chapter-url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001022.htm|chapter=To Eustochium, on the preservation of Virginity|at=§29|translator-first1=W.H.|translator-last1=Fremantle|translator-first2=G.|translator-last2=Lewis|translator-first3=W.G.|translator-last3=Martley|series=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series|volume=VI|editor-first1=Philip|editor-last1=Schaff|editor-first2=Henry|editor-last2=Wace|location=Buffalo, N.Y.|publisher=Christian Literature Publishing Co.|year=1893|orig-date=384|url=https://archive.org/details/selectlibraryofn06scha}}</ref> Augustine is also remembered for arguing for the preservation of pagan works and fostering a church tradition that led to conservation of numerous pre-Christian rhetorical writings.

Rhetoric would not regain its classical heights until the Renaissance, but new writings did advance rhetorical thought. [[Boethius]] ({{circa|480}}–524), in his brief ''Overview of the Structure of Rhetoric'', continues Aristotle's taxonomy by placing rhetoric in subordination to philosophical argument or dialectic.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Patricia|last1=Bizzell|first2=Bruce|last2=Herzberg|title=The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present|location=Boston|publisher=Bedford / St. Martins|edition=2nd|year=2001|page=486}}</ref> The [[Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe|introduction of Arab scholarship]] from European relations with the [[Caliphate|Muslim empire]] (in particular [[Al-Andalus]]) renewed interest in Aristotle and Classical thought in general, leading to what some historians call [[Renaissance of the 12th century|the 12th century Renaissance]]. A number of medieval grammars and studies of poetry and rhetoric appeared.

Late medieval rhetorical writings include those of St. [[Thomas Aquinas]] ({{circa|1225}}–1274), [[Matthew of Vendôme]] (''Ars Versificatoria'', {{circa|1175}}), and [[Geoffrey of Vinsauf]] ([[Geoffrey of Vinsauf#The Poetria nova|''Poetria Nova'']], 1200–1216). Pre-modern female rhetoricians, outside of Socrates' friend [[Aspasia]], are rare; but medieval rhetoric produced by women either in religious orders, such as [[Julian of Norwich]] (d. 1415), or the very well-connected [[Christine de Pizan]] ({{circa|1364}}–{{circa|1430}}), did occur although it was not always recorded in writing.

In his 1943 [[Cambridge University]] doctoral dissertation in English, Canadian [[Marshall McLuhan]] (1911–1980) surveys the verbal arts from approximately the time of [[Cicero]] down to the time of [[Thomas Nashe]] (1567–{{circa|1600}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLuhan |first=Marshall |title=The Classical Trivium: The Place of Thomas Nashe in the Learning of His Time |publisher=Gingko Press |year=2009|orig-date=1943 |isbn=978-1-58423-235-3}}</ref> His dissertation is still noteworthy for undertaking to study the history of the verbal arts together as the trivium, even though the developments that he surveys have been studied in greater detail since he undertook his study. As noted below, McLuhan became one of the most widely publicized communication theorists of the 20th century.

Another interesting record of medieval rhetorical thought can be seen in the many [[medieval debate literature|animal debate poems]] popular in England and the continent during the Middle Ages, such as ''[[The Owl and the Nightingale]]'' (13th century) and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[Parliament of Fowls]]''.

===Sixteenth century===
[[Renaissance humanism]] defined itself broadly as disfavoring medieval scholastic logic and dialectic and as favoring instead the study of classical Latin style and grammar and philology and rhetoric.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ong|first=Walter J.|chapter=Humanism|title=Faith and Contexts|publisher=Scholars Press|year=1999|volume=4|pages=69–91}}</ref>

[[File:Quentin Massys- Erasmus of Rotterdam.JPG|thumb|upright=0.85|Portrait of [[Erasmus of Rotterdam]]]]

One influential figure in the rebirth of interest in classical rhetoric was [[Erasmus]] ({{circa|1466}}–1536). His 1512 work, ''De Duplici Copia Verborum et Rerum'' (also known as ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style]]''), was widely published (it went through more than 150 editions throughout Europe) and became one of the basic school texts on the subject. Its treatment of rhetoric is less comprehensive than the classic works of antiquity, but provides a traditional treatment of {{lang|la|res-verba}} (matter and form). Its first book treats the subject of {{lang|la|[[elocutio]]}}, showing the student how to use [[figure of speech|schemes and tropes]]; the second book covers {{lang|la|[[inventio]]}}. Much of the emphasis is on abundance of variation ({{lang|la|copia}} means "plenty" or "abundance", as in copious or cornucopia), so both books focus on ways to introduce the maximum amount of variety into discourse. For instance, in one section of the ''De Copia'', Erasmus presents two hundred variations of the sentence "Always, as long as I live, I shall remember you" ("{{lang|la|Semper, dum vivam, tui meminero.}}") Another of his works, the extremely popular ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', also had considerable influence on the teaching of rhetoric in the later 16th century. Its orations in favour of qualities such as madness spawned a type of exercise popular in Elizabethan grammar schools, later called [[adoxography]], which required pupils to compose passages in praise of useless things.

[[Juan Luis Vives]] (1492–1540) also helped shape the study of rhetoric in England. A Spaniard, he was appointed in 1523 to the Lectureship of Rhetoric at Oxford by [[Cardinal Wolsey]], and was entrusted by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] to be one of the tutors of Mary. Vives fell into disfavor when Henry VIII divorced [[Catherine of Aragon]] and left England in 1528. His best-known work was a book on education, ''{{lang|la|De Disciplinis}}'', published in 1531, and his writings on rhetoric included ''{{lang|la|Rhetoricae, sive De Ratione Dicendi, Libri Tres}}'' (1533), ''{{lang|la|De Consultatione}}'' (1533), and a treatise on letter writing, ''{{lang|la|De Conscribendis Epistolas}}'' (1536).

It is likely that many well-known English writers were exposed to the works of Erasmus and Vives (as well as those of the Classical rhetoricians) in their schooling, which was conducted in Latin (not English), often included some study of Greek, and placed considerable emphasis on rhetoric.<ref>{{cite book|first=T.W.|last=Baldwin|title=William Shakspere's Small Latine and Lesse Greeke|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1944}} (2 vols.)</ref>

The mid-16th century saw the rise of vernacular rhetorics—those written in English rather than in the Classical languages. Adoption of works in English was slow, however, due to the strong scholastic orientation toward Latin and Greek. [[Leonard Cox]]'s ''The Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke'' ({{circa|1524–1530}}; second edition published in 1532) is the earliest text on rhetorics in English; it was, for the most part, a translation of the work of [[Melanchthon|Philipp Melanchthon]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ives Carpenter |first1=Frederic |year=1898 |title=Leonard Cox and the First English Rhetoric |journal=Modern Language Notes |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=146–47 |doi=10.2307/2917751 |jstor=2917751}}</ref> [[Thomas Wilson (rhetorician)|Thomas Wilson]]'s ''{{lang|en-emodeng|The Arte of Rhetorique}}'' (1553) presents a traditional treatment of rhetoric, for instance, the standard five canons of rhetoric. Other notable works included [[Angel Day]]'s ''{{lang|en-emodeng|The English Secretorie}}'' (1586, 1592), [[George Puttenham]]'s ''{{lang|en-emodeng|The Arte of English Poesie}}'' (1589), and Richard Rainholde's ''{{lang|en-emodeng|Foundacion of Rhetorike}}'' (1563).

During this same period, a movement began that would change the organization of the school curriculum in Protestant and especially Puritan circles and that led to rhetoric losing its central place. A French scholar, [[Petrus Ramus]] (1515–1572), dissatisfied with what he saw as the overly broad and redundant organization of the [[trivium (education)|trivium]], proposed a new curriculum. In his scheme of things, the five components of rhetoric no longer lived under the common heading of rhetoric. Instead, invention and disposition were determined to fall exclusively under the heading of dialectic, while style, delivery, and memory were all that remained for rhetoric.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Walter J. Ong|first=Walter J.|last=Ong|title=Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason|publisher=University of Chicago Press|orig-date=1958|year=2004}}</ref> Ramus was martyred during the French Wars of Religion. His teachings, seen as inimical to Catholicism, were short-lived in France but found a fertile ground in the Netherlands, Germany, and England.<ref>See {{citation|author-link=Marc Fumaroli|first=Marc|last=Fumaroli|title=Age de l'Éloquence|year=1980}}. For an extensive presentation of the intricate political and religious debates concerning rhetoric in France and Italy at the time.</ref>

One of Ramus' French followers, [[Audomarus Talaeus]] (Omer Talon) published his rhetoric, ''Institutiones Oratoriae'', in 1544. This work emphasized style, and became so popular that it was mentioned in [[John Brinsley the elder|John Brinsley]]'s (1612) ''{{lang|la|Ludus literarius}}; {{lang|en-emodeng|or The Grammar Schoole}}'' as being the "{{lang|en-emodeng|most used in the best schooles}}". Many other [[Ramist]] rhetorics followed in the next half-century, and by the 17th century, their approach became the primary method of teaching rhetoric in Protestant and especially Puritan circles.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|author-link=Walter J. Ong|first=Walter J.|last=Ong|title=Ramus and Talon Inventory|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1958}}
|2={{cite book|first=Joseph S.|last=Freedman|title=Philosophy and the Art Europe, 1500–1700: Teaching and Texts at Schools and Universities|publisher=Ashgate|year=1999}}
}}</ref> [[John Milton]] (1608–1674) wrote a textbook in logic or dialectic in Latin based on Ramus' work.<ref>{{cite book|last=Milton|first=John|title=Artis Logicae Plenior Institutio: Ad Petri Rami Methodum Concinnata|location=New York|orig-date=1672|translator-first=Allan H.|translator-last=Gilbert|series=The Works of John Milton|volume=XI|year=1935}}</ref>

Ramism could not exert any influence on the established Catholic schools and universities, which remained loyal to Scholasticism, or on the new Catholic schools and universities founded by members of the [[Society of Jesus]] or the Oratorians, as can be seen in the [[Jesuit]] curriculum (in use up to the 19th century across the Christian world) known as the {{lang|la|[[Ratio Studiorum]]}}.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Claude Nicholas|editor-last=Pavur|title=The Ratio studiorum: The Official Plan for Jesuit Education|location=St. Louis, Mo.|publisher=Institute of Jesuit Sources|year=2005|oclc=58476251|isbn=978-1-880810-59-0}}</ref> If the influence of Cicero and Quintilian permeates the {{lang|la|Ratio Studiorum}}, it is through the lenses of devotion and the militancy of the [[Counter-Reformation]]. The {{lang|la|Ratio}} was indeed imbued with a sense of the divine, of the incarnate logos, that is of rhetoric as an eloquent and humane means to reach further devotion and further action in the Christian city, which was absent from Ramist formalism. The Ratio is, in rhetoric, the answer to [[Ignatius Loyola]]'s practice, in devotion, of "[[Spiritual Exercises|spiritual exercises]]". This complex oratorical-prayer system is absent from Ramism.

===Seventeenth century===
In New England and at [[Harvard College]] (founded 1636), Ramus and his followers dominated.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Perry Miller|first=Perry|last=Miller|title=The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1939|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182960}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2023}} However, in England, several writers influenced the course of rhetoric during the 17th century, many of them carrying forward the dichotomy{{Specify|reason=which dichotomy is that?|date=September 2023}} that had been set forth by Ramus and his followers during the preceding decades. This century also saw the development of a modern, vernacular style that looked to English, rather than to Greek, Latin, or French models.

[[Francis Bacon]] (1561–1626), although not a rhetorician, contributed to the field in his writings. One of the concerns of the age was to find a suitable style for the discussion of scientific topics, which needed above all a clear exposition of facts and arguments, rather than an ornate style. Bacon in his ''[[The Advancement of Learning]]'' criticized those who are preoccupied with style rather than "the weight of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life of invention, or depth of judgment".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bacon|first=Francis|author-link=Francis Bacon|title=[[The Advancement of Learning|Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning or the Partitions of Sciences]]|year=1605|at=I.4§2}}</ref> On matters of style, he proposed that the style conform to the subject matter and to the audience, that simple words be employed whenever possible, and that the style should be agreeable.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Lisa Jardine|first=Lisa|last=Jardine|title=Francis Bacon: Discovery and the Art of Discourse|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1975}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2023}}

[[Thomas Hobbes]] (1588–1679) also wrote on rhetoric. Along with a shortened translation of [[Aristotle]]'s ''Rhetoric'', Hobbes also produced a number of other works on the subject. Sharply contrarian on many subjects, Hobbes, like Bacon, also promoted a simpler and more natural style that used figures of speech sparingly.

Perhaps the most influential development in English style came out of the work of the [[Royal Society]] (founded in 1660), which in 1664 set up a committee to improve the English language. Among the committee's members were [[John Evelyn]] (1620–1706), [[Thomas Sprat]] (1635–1713), and [[John Dryden]] (1631–1700). Sprat regarded "fine speaking" as a disease, and thought that a proper style should "reject all amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style" and instead "return back to a primitive purity and shortness".<ref>{{cite book|last=Sprat|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Sprat|title=The History of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge|publisher=T.R. for J. Martyn at the Bell|year=1667|pages=112–13}}</ref>

While the work of this committee never went beyond planning, John Dryden is often credited with creating and exemplifying a new and modern English style. His central tenet was that the style should be proper "to the occasion, the subject, and the persons".<ref>{{cite book|last=Dryden|first=John|author-link=John Dryden|title=[[The Spanish Friar|The Spanish Fryar]]|chapter=Dedication|location=London|year=1797|publisher=George Cawthorn|series=Bell's British Theatre|volume=II|page=vii|orig-date=1681}}</ref> As such, he advocated the use of English words whenever possible instead of foreign ones, as well as vernacular, rather than Latinate, syntax. His own prose (and his poetry) became exemplars of this new style.

===Eighteenth century===
Arguably one of the most influential schools of rhetoric during the 18th century was Scottish [[Belles-lettres|Belletristic]] rhetoric, exemplified by such professors of rhetoric as [[Hugh Blair]] whose ''[[Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres]]'' saw international success in various editions and translations, and [[Lord Kames]] with his influential ''Elements of Criticism''.

Another notable figure in 18th century rhetoric was [[Maria Edgeworth]], a novelist and children's author whose work often parodied the male-centric rhetorical strategies of her time. In her 1795 "An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification," Edgeworth presents a satire of Enlightenment rhetoric's science-centrism and the Belletristic Movement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Herrick|first=James A.|year=2013|title=The History and Theory of Rhetoric|edition=fifth|publisher=Pearson|pages=183–84}}</ref> She was called "the great Maria" by [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]], with whom she corresponded,<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Edgeworth, Maria|year=2012|editor-last1=Birch|editor-first1=D.|editor-last2=Hooper|editor-first2=K.|title=The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=215–16}}</ref> and by modern scholars is noted as "a transgressive and ironic reader" of the 18th century rhetorical norms.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Donawerth|first=Jane|year=2000|title=Poaching on Men's Philosophies of Rhetoric: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Rhetorical Theory by Women|journal=Philosophy & Rhetoric|volume=33|number=3|pages=243–258|doi=10.1353/par.2000.0017 |s2cid=170719233 }}</ref>