Dialectical, Rhetorical, and Aristotelian Rhetoric.

This article argues that Aristotle presents a rhetoric that enables the rhetor to discern persuasive elements of a given framework of beliefs while remaining free of such ultimate ontological commitments. Aristotle's construal of rhetoric from dialectical and rhetorical rhetoric will be differentiated with respect to the purpose of the art, the ontological status and implications of the rhetor's use of enthymeme and other instruments of inquiry, and the place of the art of rhetoric among possible alternative modes of inquiry. One may argue that even though Aristotle's rhetor does not rely on ultimate ontological assumptions concerning the determinate or indeterminate nature of reality, he nevertheless relies upon a reality comprising the realm of deliberation and choice. That is, he requires a knowledge of human psychology, and about the nature of reasoning, deliberation, and choice; in this respect he depends upon a determinate conception of social, political, and ethical reality. This is the case for the dialectical rhetor, who perceives the rhetorical domain as being comprised by a determinate set of forces within which he must convey his message. But for Aristotle, the rhetor must recognize that he is an integral part of the reality he confronts and that his actions in it may dramatically alter that reality. For reality in the rhetorical domain is a product of a cultural framework and its discourse; and this framework is always open to change.