The History of Rhetoric The History of Rhetoric Rhetoric is the study of the strategies of using words to accomplish a purpose. The traditional purpose most rhetoricians have studied is how to persuade people to do or to think what the speaker or writer wishes.
Rhetoric is value neutral - that is, using the principles of rhetoric is neither moral nor immoral.
If persuasion means to convince someone else that your interests and his interests are the same thing, then moral persuasion is when it is true that both your interests are the same. Immoral persuasion is when it is not true that your interests are the same, and to persuade him is to lie to him. Socrates hated the whole idea of rhetoric because it did not deal with the moral question. As an adult in a democracy, you must be responsible for your own moral decisions, but there is no doubt that the principles of rhetoric are very powerful tools for people who master them, not to mention that they are necessary for success in the worlds of business and industry. In the Western world, rhetoric is the very oldest school subject.