Reflective Blog Post 1

While I do think that Plato and the Sophists brought up legitimate claims in regards to their stance on rhetoric, I find myself agreeing or understanding with most of the statements brought up by Aristotle. I also found it interesting that Aristotle’s rhetoric seemed to have a more positive perspective versus Plato, who outwardly denounced rhetoric, and the Sophists, which led me to believe that rhetoric was a negative subject that involved trickery. Overall, when reading about Aristotle’s stance on rhetoric, I appreciated reading that rhetoric was associated with justice and truth, which is a strong contrast to the beliefs of other philosophers we have learned about so far. 

            I think that even to this day, Aristotle’s teachings are still deeply embedded in our education system, as a I remember about a year ago in my public speaking class, we learned about Aristotle when going over persuasive speeches. What really helped me understand and break down Aristotle’s rhetoric, was in the reading Rhetoric of Western Thought Aristotle, when it was broken down into a “four-fold function.” Those functions include upholding the truth as well as justice and playing down their opposites, teaching in a way that is suitable, analyzing both sides of a question, and enabling one to defend oneself (page 2). These statements make rhetoric sound like it is completely moral, which may not always be the case, however I feel as if Aristotle believed that non-corrupted rhetoric, could be used positively within a society. While my definition and understanding of rhetoric has only just begun, I think that Aristotle’s teachings of rhetoric has some great points that still influences our society today.