sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Environmental Rhetoric

Rhetoric generally refers to cliche answers to a specific question.For example “the politicians all engaged in the usual rhetoric regarding the environment. ” It becomes another word for blah blah.

When used in an academic sense it means a rule or set of rules that are already known tom the listeners.Example. “Rhetorically speaking, that equation would be correct.”.

Classical Greek rhetoric was defined as using the spoken word for persuasion as in law or politics.

Today, rhetoric involves much more. It is the art of communication in any field, not just the classical ones.

Example of environmental rhetoric: “The oil companies spew rhetoric trying to convince us that they need the oil in the Alaska wilderness”.

From the other side: “The tree huggers try to convince us with a lot of rhetoric that global warming is imminent”.

An everyday definition of “rhetoric” is usually political and usually negative. When someone nowadays says, “Oh, that’s just rhetoric,” they usually mean it’s just hot air. For example, the phrase “political rhetoric” usually refers to empty buzzwords and promises offered by a politician in order to distract his audience from the need for a substantial discussion of an issue.

But traditionally and academically, rhetoric has a much broader meaning. Aristotle defined rhetoric as the ability to figure out the different ways in which you can use language to persuade someone in any given situation. Kenneth Burke went even broader, calling rhetoric “symbolic action.” In any case, the academic version of “rhetoric” would be something like “using language for a purpose”–to persuade, generate sympathy, establish your credibility or authority, and so on. And everyone uses rhetoric: a politician makes language choices to accomplish his/her goals, but so does the average Joe or Jane on the street.

Mike G has the best answer-clear, concise and to the point. Not full of Rhetoric.!! Now do you understand? That it is when some one is talking about something and is throwing in a lot of words that do not mean anything. That they are answering you but not sticking to the point and really answering you.

1. 1. The art or study of using language effectively and persuasively. 2. A treatise or book discussing this art. 2. Skill in using language effectively and persuasively. 3. 1. A style of speaking or writing, especially the language of a particular subject: fiery political rhetoric. 2. Language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous: His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric. 4. Verbal communication; discourse. [Middle English rethorik, from Old French rethorique, from Latin rhētoricē, rhētorica, from Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē), rhetorical (art), feminine of rhētorikos, rhetorical, from rhētōr, rhetor. See rhetor.] The art of public speaking: declamation, elocution, oratory. Definition: wordiness; long speech Antonyms: conciseness Political Dictionary: rhetoric Rhetoric is the persuasive use of language. Until the eighteenth century its study was one of the central disciplines in European universities alongside theology, natural and moral sciences, and law. Thereafter, empiricist and positivist methods of social inquiry led to its eclipse, on the ground that language, scientifically used, was no more than a transparent medium by which knowledge of the world gained by experience was mediated. Rhetoric, accordingly, came to denote the unnecessary or misleading embellishment and corruption of language—a view which Plato had held of the sophists. Literary Dictionary: rhetoric the deliberate exploitation of eloquence for the most persuasive effect in public speaking or in writing. It was cultivated as an important art and science in antiquity, and was an essential ele‐ment of medieval university education, involving the elaborate categorizing of figures of speech together with the arts of memory, arrangement, and oratorical delivery. The emphasis on sincerity in the culture of Romanticism helped to discredit rhetoric, so that the usual modern sense of the term implies empty and ineffectual grandness in public speech. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: rhetoric Art of speaking or writing effectively. It may entail the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times, and it can also involve the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion. Classical rhetoric probably developed along with democracy in Syracuse (Sicily) in the 5th century BC, when dispossessed landowners argued claims before their fellow citizens. Shrewd speakers sought help from teachers of oratory, called rhetors. This use of language was of interest to philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle because the oratorical arguments called into question the relationships among language, truth, and morality. The Romans recognized separate aspects of the process of composing speeches, a compartmentalization that grew more pronounced with time. Renaissance scholars and poets studied rhetoric closely, and it was a central concern of humanism. In all times and places where rhetoric has been significant, listening and reading and speaking and writing have been the critical skills necessary for effective communication. (more…..)

would you really like me to answer that or is it a rhetorical thing

The term rhetoric is like a shoe of infinite sizes. You could conceivably have a “rhetoric” for any topic you choose.

Casual rhetoric or formal rhetoric is simply using language effectively to please or persuade. So “casual” rhetoric would be applying casual language to a casual audience; formal would be using formal language to a formal audience.

Environmental rhetoric would be referring to the topic of choice, the environment.

When you use a term like “Environmental” it means that you are going to lock into a set of key terms or jargon which is commonly used by people who normally talk about the environment. You’re going to hear certain buzzwords like “green” “bio-diversity” “environmentally friendly” “global warming” etc.

Every big topic is going to have a set of “buzzwords” which are instantly recognizable to the specialized group.

The meaning of ” RHETORIC” persuasive speech or writing a very pretentious or empty language……I believe it is the art or study using language effectively to their own understanding even though no one else understands these bunch of empty words with a meaning……

Example: A question asked for effect but requires no answer..like.politicians, speakers, environmentalist, and sometimes teachers….etc….

Rhetoric (from Greek ῥήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of spoken language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. In this sense, there is a divide between classical rhetoric (with the aforementioned definition) and contemporary practices of rhetoric.

Historically, classical rhetoric has its inception in a school of Pre-Socratic philosophers known as Sophists. It is later taught as one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, grammar concerned itself with correct, accurate, pleasing, and effective language use through the study and criticism of literary models, dialectic concerned itself with the testing and invention of new knowledge through a process of question and answer, and rhetoric concerned itself with persuasion in public and political settings such as assemblies and courts of law. As such, rhetoric is said to flourish in open and democratic societies with rights of free speech, free assembly, and political enfranchisement for some portion of the population.

Contemporary studies of rhetoric have a more diverse range of practices and meanings than was the case in ancient times. The concept of rhetoric has thus shifted widely during its 2500-year history. Rhetoricians have recently argued that the classical understanding of rhetoric is limited because persuasion depends on communication, which in turn depends on meaning. Thus the scope of rhetoric is understood to include much more than simply public–legal and political–discourse. This emphasis on meaning and how it is constructed and conveyed draws on a large body of critical and social theory, philosophy, and problems in social science methodology. So while rhetoric has traditionally been thought of being involved in such arenas as politics, law, public relations, lobbying, marketing and advertising, the study of rhetoric has recently entered into diverse fields such as humanities, religion, social sciences, law, science, journalism, history, literature and even cartography and architecture. Every aspect of human life and thought that depends on the articulation and communication of meaning can be said to involve elements of the rhetorical. “In the last ten years, many scholars have investigated exactly how rhetoric works within a particular field