Definitions:
The following definitions are from Rhetoric:
Concepts, Definitions, Boundaries by William A.
Covino and David A. Jolliffe, Allyn & Bacon,
1995
“[The function of rhetoric] is not to
persuade but to see the available means of persuasion
in each case.” – Aristotle (Rhetoric
c. 350 BCE) (Covino and Jolliffe 3)
“Rhetoric in the most general sense may
perhaps be identified with the energy inherent
in communication: the emotional energy that impels
the speaker to speak, the physical energy expended
in the utterance, the energy level coded in the
message, and the energy experienced by the recipient
in decoding the message.” – George
Kennedy (“A Hoot in the Dark” 1992)
(Covino and Jolliffe 3)
“I specify now that rhetoric is the functional
organization of discourse, within its social and
cultural context, in all its aspects, exception
made for its realization as a strictly formal
metalanguage—in formal logic, mathematics,
and in the sciences whose metalanguages share
the same features. In other words: rhetoric is
all of language, in its realization as a discourse.”
– Paulo Valesio (Novantiqua 1980)
(Covino and Jolliffe 3)
“Rhetoric is a primarily verbal, situationally
contingent, epistemic art that is both philosophical
and practical and gives rise to potentially active
texts.” (Covino and Jolliffe 5)
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