A Dissertation on Rhetoric Author:Aristotle Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: into equal consideration effectual and apparent persuasion, as logic treats of the true and apparent syllogism. I say, that the logician works upon apparent syll... more »ogism, in order that it may not be considered as the province of the sophist alone, whose characteristic is not the knowledge of, or address in using arguments of similitude ; but the object with which he sets out, is that of arguing with the intent of deceiving. Truly peaking, as to this point, logic and rhetoric differ, inasmuch as, in the latter art, the man who employs false arguments is considered an orator equally with him who makes use but of true ones. Now it is not so with logic, the true disciple of which attaches himself but to the art conjoined with Irulk; for the subtlety and evasion of the sophist are not comprehended in that character. But, to the subject from which we have diverged, and first to the definition of this art ; progressively examining all its other parts as we go along. CHAP. II. DEFINITION OF RHETORIC. " Rhetoric is an art, or faculty, which, upon every subject, considers the capability of per- luasion." In this it is peculiar; for, no other art or faculty treats of any subject other than that within the immediate province of each, and consequently aims at conviction on those points alone. We shall exemplify medicine, which reasons and persuades only upon matters concerning the oppo- sites, health and disease; geometry, upon the remarkable changes and differences to be met with in space; arithmetic, regarding numbers; and so on distinctively with the whole remaining series of arts and sciences. Rhetoric alone is general in its subject, and assumes a right to attempt conviction in any. Of Proof. Rhetoric employs two kinds—one, artificial; the other, independent of art. By the ...« less