Random musings: Why You Should Learn the Lost Art of Rhetoric

Today's blog post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:

For thousands of years, the study of rhetoric was a fundamental part of a man’s education. Though it ceased to be commonly taught in the 19th century, my guest today argues that it’s an art well worth reviving in the modern day.

His name is Jay Heinrich, and he’s an expert in language and persuasion and the author of Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. Jay and I begin our conversation with a description of what rhetoric is, why after being taught around the world for centuries it fell out of favor as a component of education, and why it’s still essential for everyone, especially leaders, to learn. We then unpack the difference between fighting and arguing, and how it’s the latter that’s a lost art, especially in our digital age. From there we discuss each of Aristotle’s three tools of rhetoric — ethos, pathos, and logos — including a dive into how the way your audience sees your character is so important, and how you can even do an ethos analysis of your resume. We then delve into Cicero’s five canons of rhetoric, and Jay shares a smart technique for memorizing a presentation, and thus delivering it more persuasively. We end our conversation with a fun game you can play to sharpen your rhetorical skills.

Rhetoric is one of the disciplines of a classical liberal arts education:

The trivium:

Grammar
Logic
Rhetoric

The quadrivium:

Arithmetic
Geometry
Music
Astronomy

Our grammar schools came from this idea In fact, the ideas of the trivium matches up pretty well with grammar (or elementary) school, middle school and high school. Although, classical education went out of favor in the early 1900's. But you can check out this additional podcast on AoM on how to get a classical education today for yourself or your children..

Here are the highlights from the program:

What is rhetoric?
The history of sophists and rhetorical studies
Why did rhetoric stop being taught in school? What’s lost when we don’t teach rhetoric?
What’s the difference between a fight and an argument?
Can you have a constructive argument with someone who just wants to fight?
3 primary things to know about your audience
Why tense matters so much — forensic (past), tribal (present), and deliberative/political (future)
How to argue well with your significant other
Aristotle’s “tools of character”
How to connect with groups of people different from you
Getting people in the mood to be persuaded
What Homer Simpson can teach us about speaking
Why logical fallacies aren’t always bad in persuasion
Cicero’s Five Canons of Rhetoric
The value of memorization when it comes to persuasion
A rhetorical game to bone up on your skills