The Persuasive Potential of Epideictic Rhetoric: Ancient Past and Contemporary Reception

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-115
Keyword(s):  
Epideictic Rhetoric

Philosophers in the New World: Montaigne and the Tradition of Epideictic Rhetoric

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric MacPhail
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Michel De Montaigne ◽  
Epideictic Rhetoric ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
The Relationship

This article studies the essays of Michel de Montaigne in the context of the tradition of epideictic rhetoric from antiquity to the Renaissance, with particular attention to the humanist reception of Aristotle's Rhetoric. The focus of this attention is the relationship between epideictic and consensus, which proves to be more problematic than Aristotle seems to have anticipated. If we read Montaigne's essay “Des Cannibales” as a paradoxical encomium and compare it to Plutarch's declamation on the fortune of Alexander, we can see how epideictic works to undermine consensus and even to challenge the very impulse to conform to social and ethical norms.

scholarly journals Epitaphios logos – hybrydyczny gatunek retoryki ateńskiej

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-339
Author(s):  
Krystyna Tuszyńska
Keyword(s):  
Epideictic Rhetoric ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Hybrid Genre ◽  
Greek Rhetoric

Athenian funeral oration (epitaphios logos) belongs to the epideictic rhetoric. But according to Aristotle the topics used in epideictic oratory could be applied in the deliberative kind, after some modification in the matters of language. In this article I consider the means proposed in the narrative part of the composition, which can be used instead of argumentation in epideictic oratory, i.e. amplification, metaphors and actualization (putting things before the eyes, gr. energeia, lat. evidentia). My purpose is to answer the question who was/is the recipient of Athenian funeral oration. In my opinion there are three kinds of primary recipients: the dead soldiers in the battle, the listeners present at the celebration (Athenians and foreigners) and the Idea of Democracy itself. I also try to find the so-called secondary recipient of Athenian funeral oration. I treat Athenian funeral oration as a hybrid genre of Greek rhetoric.

Epideictic Rhetoric and the Foundations of Politics

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-304
Author(s):  
Ryan K. Balot
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Epideictic Rhetoric ◽  
Judicial Rhetoric ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Essential Function

At least since the time of Plato’s writings, epideictic rhetoric has been criticized as deceptive, as epistemologically bankrupt, and as politically irrelevant. Aristotle himself emphasizes that the key ‘topic’of epideictic is amplification and stresses that the epideictic orator chiefly adds ‘size’(megethos) and ‘beauty’(kallos) to widely shared memories. This paper reinterprets Aristotle’s statements and argues that Aristotle’s account brings to light significant civic resources embodied in epideictic. A genuine statesman uses ceremonial speech to articulate and explain a regime’s underlying ethos and purposes; thus he defines the regime’s telos and orients the citizenry toward it. In that way, it is argued, epideictic oratory is not the trivial cousin of deliberative and judicial rhetoric, but rather the rhetorical genre whose essential function is to explain and defend the fundamental building blocks of the regime.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document