Just Finished Reading: Rhetoric – A Very Short Introduction by Richard Toye (FP: 2013)

It’s something we hear most days and have been increasingly used to – almost without realising it. In one sense or another we swim in a sea of Rhetoric and not just from the places we expect it: Politics. At base the art of rhetoric is the art of verbal persuasion. At its best it should be used to explain the truth of things, to explain and illuminate an argument but, as critics have pointed out since the earliest days of Greek thought, it can also be used to bolster the weak argument maybe in ways that weakness can win over a better argument badly put. This is the rub and why the art of rhetoric has such a bad name – the possibility that it’s admitted power can be used to blind rather than enlighten and to raise to positions of power those who have much more style than substance.

But there is another side to rhetoric – being knowledgeable about the subject to know when such manipulation is taking place, to recognise rhetorical devices and to see them for what they are. In other words to have to power to defeat the users of rhetoric at their own game – after being inoculated against its use. For the danger – however much exaggerated both by the practitioners and teachers of rhetorical skills – is that those with a will to do so could manipulate you though the use of language without you ever being aware of such a thing. Knowledge of their techniques could stop that dead in its tracks.

Finally knowledge of rhetoric improves the skill in argument formation and can increase basic clarity of thought. Knowing how persuasive arguments are constructed, knowing what to emphasise and what to leave out, knowing how to attack opposing arguments and knowing how to make emotional connections can improve essay production, aid in public speaking, increase confidence in interviews and much else besides. Not for nothing has rhetoric been taught across the West for thousands of years and was long considered a cornerstone of a classical education.

Despite its mere 112 pages this interesting little book was packed full of useful information, exercises and a few case studies from some of the great speeches and great speakers of the 20th century. What’s more (and something I always look for) it has a very useful bibliography to help you follow up any interest in the subject. This is something I will definitely be doing in future. Recommended.