Public Speaking in Ancient Greece
photos of Athens

· Aristotle born 384 BC, died 322 BC. Founded the Lyceum in Athens the third century BC.

Wrote The Rhetoric
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/

Rhetoric means: "Finding all of the available means of persuasion."

Effective rhetoric requires "a study of the human soul."

Adapting your message to meet the needs of the audience.

· Aristotle's model of communication:

Speaker → Arguments → Speech → Audience

· Three types of classical Greek public speeches:

Forensic
-- for courts
-- issue of fact
-- concerned with past

Deliberative
-- for assembly
-- issue of policy
-- concerned with future

Epideictic
-- for ceremony
-- issue of value
-- concerned with present

Modern version: three basic types of speeches

Speeches to inform
Speeches to persuade
Speeches to evoke

Aristotle said that rhetoric has "three divisions -- (1) the speaker's power of evincing a personal character which will make his speech credible (ethos );
(2) his power of stirring the emotions of his hearers (pathos );
(3) his power of proving a truth, or an apparent truth, by means of persuasive arguments (logos )."

· The Three Classical Proofs

Logos -- Source of the persuasion for logos is in the speech

Pathos -- Source of persuasion for pathos is in the audience

Ethos -- Source of the persuasion for ethos is in the speaker

Ethos is the character appeal of speaker. Trustworthiness.

The Canons of Rhetoric

Aristotle and other Greek rhetoricians thought of rhetoric as having five canons or established principles.

Invention: To discover the available means of persuasion.

Arrangement: To select and assemble the argument effectively.

Style: To present the argument cogently and eloquently.

Memory: To speak extemporaneously.

Delivery: To effectively use voice, gestures, text, and images.

· Kenneth Burke, 1897 -- 1993

"The Rhetoric of Motives."

Goal of communication is to achieve Identification

Finding Common Ground. Sharing self definitions.
“The sharing of substance.” -- Burke

Types of identification:
Rite of passage experience

Geography

Nationality

Group membership

Religion

Language

Shared values and beliefs

Three levels of identification in public speaking. :

1. Audience identifies with speaker.

2. Audience identifies with topic.
“Salience.”

3. Topic identifies with situation.
“Right thing spoken at the right time.”