Classical Rhetoric: Then and Now

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

4-2024

ISBN

9780817361396

Abstract

In this context, “rhetoric” refers to the theory and practice of persuasion in the public sphere: law courts, legislative assemblies, ceremonial events, and other political venues.1 Rhetoric was taught to young men in the ancient world to prepare them for civic life, which included participating in the resolution of legal disputes and public debate, acting as jurors, and engaging in military service. The majority of the rhetorical theorists represented in this volume date back to this so-called classical period in Greco-Roman culture, which for our purposes spans from the fifth century BCE until after the end of the Roman Empire around one thousand years later. Although these ancient theorists did not claim to invent persuasion itself, they were some of the first in the Western world to develop a rigorous theory to inform the practice of persuasion and educational institutions devoted to teaching it primarily for use in these contexts. Rhetoric’s influence on education—from grammar to graduate school—and legal training in particular evolved but continued uninterrupted in Europe, then in Britain and the United States, from the classical period until the late nineteenth century. By then, US law schools had made an abrupt curricular shift from studying law as an art form to approaching law as a science, the subject of which was judicial decisions. In the twentieth century, the study of rhetoric outside law schools was divided among English, communication, and speech departments. As a result, US law students today have little familiarity with the rhetorical tradition that developed in part to train students for the practice of law. The goal of this chapter is not to provide a comprehensive history of rhetoric; Larson and Tiscione 12 rather, it is to introduce the historical context and significance of the theorists featured in the volume. We focus our attention on the practice of “forensic” or “judicial” rhetoric—advocacy in legal disputes—because that is the focus of the contemporary texts that the authors in this volume excerpt. We also end our history at the beginning of the twentieth century, when a rupture between training in rhetoric and law occurred in the United States that has only gradually begun to heal.

First Page

11

Last Page

26

Num Pages

12

Series

Rhetoric, Law, and the Humanities

Publisher

The University of Alabama Press

Editor

Francis J. Mootz III, Kirsten K. Davis, Brian N. Larson, & Kristen K. Tiscione

Book Title

Classical Rhetoric and Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader

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