Page - 2208 - in The Complete Aristotle
Image of the Page - 2208 -
Text of the Page - 2208 -
1
We have now considered the materials to be used in supporting or opposing
a political measure, in pronouncing eulogies or censures, and for prosecution
and defence in the law courts. We have considered the received opinions on
which we may best base our arguments so as to convince our hearers-those
opinions with which our enthymemes deal, and out of which they are built, in
each of the three kinds of oratory, according to what may be called the special
needs of each.
But since rhetoric exists to affect the giving of decisions-the hearers decide
between one political speaker and another, and a legal verdict is a decision-
the orator must not only try to make the argument of his speech demonstrative
and worthy of belief; he must also make his own character look right and put
his hearers, who are to decide, into the right frame of mind. Particularly in
political oratory, but also in lawsuits, it adds much to an orator’s influence
that his own character should look right and that he should be thought to
entertain the right feelings towards his hearers; and also that his hearers
themselves should be in just the right frame of mind. That the orator’s own
character should look right is particularly important in political speaking: that
the audience should be in the right frame of mind, in lawsuits. When people
are feeling friendly and placable, they think one sort of thing; when they are
feeling angry or hostile, they think either something totally different or the
same thing with a different intensity: when they feel friendly to the man who
comes before them for judgement, they regard him as having done little
wrong, if any; when they feel hostile, they take the opposite view. Again, if
they are eager for, and have good hopes of, a thing that will be pleasant if it
happens, they think that it certainly will happen and be good for them:
whereas if they are indifferent or annoyed, they do not think so.
There are three things which inspire confidence in the orator’s own
character-the three, namely, that induce us to believe a thing apart from any
proof of it: good sense, good moral character, and goodwill. False statements
and bad advice are due to one or more of the following three causes. Men
either form a false opinion through want of good sense; or they form a true
opinion, but because of their moral badness do not say what they really think;
or finally, they are both sensible and upright, but not well disposed to their
hearers, and may fail in consequence to recommend what they know to be the
best course. These are the only possible cases. It follows that any one who is
thought to have all three of these good qualities will inspire trust in his
audience. The way to make ourselves thought to be sensible and morally good
must be gathered from the analysis of goodness already given: the way to
2208
back to the
book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156