RHETORIC VERSUS TRUTH?

The origins of rhetoric as a formal technology of persuasion through language are closely bound up with the origins of democracy in fifth century BC Athens. It did not appear out of nowhere — already in monarchy, wise rulers surrounded themselves with advisors who represented different interests and were not like-minded, and whose job is was to convince the ruler that the particular course they were advocating was the best one. Subjects too had to persuade the ruler, or a functionary delegated with authority by the ruler, of the justness of any petition they might make, or the unjustness of any charge levelled against them.

Still, with democracy came a sea change. The power to persuade became ultimate power, and instruction in the art of persuasion was not long in being put on offer. The first teachers of the subject were given the name Sophists (roughly, wise guys) by their enemies, those who thought that persuasion should come purely from stating the truth, and not from any ‘art’, the purpose of which could only be to persuade others of what is not in fact the case. The best remembered of their enemies is Socrates — himself a teacher, but of dialectic, a form of enquiry aimed at reaching the truth rather than persuading. In modern terms, Socrates was training philosophers and theologians, while the Sophists were preparing lawyers, advertising and PR types, spin doctors and politicians.