Philosophy and Rhetoric

ABSTRACT

What is the relation between philosophy and rhetoric? Aristotle argues: Rhetoric is the study of “the modes of persuasion.” But persuasion about what? Rhetoric persuades us “whether something has been or has not been, will be or will not be, is or is not.” Rhetoric persuades us about being—and that is what philosophy studies. So, both philosophy and rhetoric concern themselves with being. But what is being? It is that which is implied by everything that is, so that it can be or not be. Each in its own way, Greek rhetoric and Greek philosophy are always saying and thinking: being is implied. And this is how philosophy and rhetoric are implicated in one another—which is why it may be time not merely to say and think that “philosophy is rhetorical” and that “rhetoric is philosophical,” but rather just: philosophy rhetoric and rhetoric philosophy.