First Entry: Working Definition of "Rhetoric"

In order to fully understand this blog, readers will have to have a basic understanding of what Rhetoric actually means. Prior to taking this class (and, heck, even a little today) I had no clue what Rhetoric was. And the average reader (anyone outside this class) may be in a similar boat. So to provide a background, this first post will be a basic definition for an understanding of what is to come.

Rhetoric, through history, has been defined as the art of persuasion. Arguably the most well-known name in the study of Rhetoric (although many may not know he wrote about it) is Aristotle. Aristotle, however, is not the end-all-be-all of the study of Rhetoric. Lloyd Bitzer and Richard Vatz (among others of course) have also studied (at length) Rhetoric.