Tag: language
Gorgias and Language as Enchantment
For centuries, the Sophistic movement of ancient Greece was either ignored or marginalized, likely due to the negative portrayal they received at the hands of Plato. They were written off as charlatans and frauds who had little to offer of philosophical value. Of all the Sophists, Gorgias even today remains the most recognized and well…
The Tower of Babel
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” –John 1:1 For…
The Sophists
The Sophists were among the first teachers and theorists of rhetoric in Ancient Greece. They made their living traveling from city to city, teaching the citizens the art of argumentation. Having experienced a wide variety of local habits and customs during their travels, they saw truth as being relative in nature. They rejected any idea…
What is Rhetoric?
According to Aristotle, rhetoric “is the art of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion.” Most modern and contemporary definitions tend to take this classical definition of rhetoric as their starting point. For example, Kenneth Burke, one of the 20th century’s greatest rhetorical theorists, gave this explanation of rhetoric: “it…