Rhetoric

Aristotle’s Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled

, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on Rhetoric.

Aristotle is generally credited with developing the basics of the system of rhetoric that thereafter served as its touchstone , influencing the development of rhetorical theory from ancient through modern times. The Rhetoric is regarded by most rhetoricians as the most important single work on persuasion ever written. Gross & Walzer concur, indicating that, just as Whitehead considered all Western philosophy a footnote to Plato, all subsequent rhetorical theory is but a series of responses to issues raised by Aristotle’s Rhetoric. This is largely a reflection of disciplinary divisions, dating back to Peter Ramus’s attacks on Aristotlean rhetoric in the late 16th century and continuing to the present.( wikipedia.org)