Rhetoric, Book I Figurative Reading

Leslie Koko Gutierrez
Dale Carrico
GSI: Kwan Hwa
Rhetoric 103 A
26 November 2016
                                                                 Rhetoric, Book I

    Aristotle was very metaliterary, for he attempts to employ rhetoric throughout the text  in which he attempts to explain what rhetoric is in Rhetoric Book I. Moreover, it is a successful endeavor, for in it he delineates the three main components of rhetoric that continue to be in vogue today: pathos, logos, and ethos. Ethos is presented as the strongest of the three appeals, for Aristotle rates rhetorical effectiveness upon moral virtue. He states that, “We believe good men more fully and more readily than others” (Rhetoric Book I), thereby revealing a definitive statement and biased opinion. Indeed, Aristotle has failed to define what a “good man” is here, nor does he qualify or amend this statement with any exceptions. Further, the usage of the all-inclusive pronoun “we” suggests that no such contradiction can occur, but that agreement is unanimous on such a statement without having established it.
     Of course, Aristotle attempts to counteract these objections by proclaiming rhetoric to be an art of persuasion, and persuasion is not limited to any particular subject matter like math, medicine, and history are; rather, rhetoric is universal. This aspect of universality thereby forces rhetoric to be spoken of in general terms that apply to the vast majority of humanity, unlike the other fields which are limited to specific subsets of individuals. As such, Aristotle utilizes an interesting metaphor to justify the vast scope of rhetoric: “The best of things is water” (Rhetoric Book 7). The idea here is that since there is an abundant amount of water, it can be readily available to all of humanity and therefore has the greatest amount of utility. Similarly, rhetoric can also reach to the uttermost parts of the earth, and be used to persuade people from all different walks of life. This would indicate that rhetoric has a high amount of utility if used correctly.
     However, Aristotle is merely dragging the reader along so that he may use these premises to validate and justify his greater argument: that moral character is necessary to maintaining the four types of government. Moreover, rhetoric is merely a tool used to craft and maintain hierarchical power over a society. Thus, the “means of persuasion” have merely been spoken of in the abstract to then be applied to a more specific issue: governance. It should be noted that starting with a generalization and moving towards specific instances is inductive reasoning, which Aristotle finds inferior to enthymemes. Perhaps Aristotle realized the power of drawing upon specific instances and creating metaphors to help explain his positions better without fully realizing the tendency towards induction. Moreover, his text becomes littered with references and proverbial underpinnings, further highlighting the rhetorical mechanisms at work in a piece that purports to be didactic and instructional. Aristotle quotes an epigram, “In time past, hearing a Yoke on my shoulders, of wood unshaven, I carried my loads of fish” which suggests that moral character is shaped by hardships and burdens, as implied by the metaphor. Thus, Aristotle has attempted to answer my earlier objection by declaring “good” to be that which endures hardship, but such reasoning can be categorized as argumentative rhetoric, for it rejects any other opposing viewpoints. Thus, the metaphors act as a shield throughout the text which work to bolster his rhetorical arguments.
     More importantly, Aristotle is not writing a mere instructional piece on the art of rhetoric, but uses his own rhetoric to convey a message to his audience about its importance to humanity. He bolsters this argument by referencing Homer, who states, “I have learnt from none but myself” which indicates that rhetoric can empower individuals to make changes to society merely by an organized usage of words and phrases. As such, the art of persuasion requires ethos and logos, but it also requires figurative language that can be used as a tool to spread one’s ideas onto a large group of people. Thus, metaphors can work to become a mighty political tool when juxtaposed with the proper rhetoric.