ART OF RHETORIC

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle had a huge influence on the development of Western philosophy. Born in northern Greece in 384BCE, his father was the physician to the King of Macedonia, and although much of his early life remains a mystery, we know that he went to Athens when he was 17 to study in Plato's Academy where he spent more than two decades under his tutelage. He left the peaceful environment of Assos after a request from King Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son Alexander, later better known as Alexander the Great. When this task came to an end, Aristotle returned to Athens and created his own institution of learning, the Lyceum, where he encouraged his students not only in philosophy but in astronomy, biology, mathematics, medicine, music and rhetoric, and it was there he gave regular lectures and wrote many treatises including Nicomachean Ethics and this book. Public speaking was a critical skill in Ancient Greece whether for politicians or ordinary citizens putting forward their case in courts of law. Aristotle set out to create a guide to help students argue persuasively and at the same time it is a comprehensive study of human emotions and character with rhetoric one of the three branches of philosophy along with logic and dialectic. Brilliantly explained and carefully reasoned, Aristotle created essential guidelines for argument and a prose style that would influence writers for more than two millennia. 252pp in new full price paperback.