Changing Persuasion

"In the present day...the province of Rhetoric, in the widest acceptation that would be reckoned admissible, comprehends all 'Composition in Prose'; in the narrowest sense, it would be limited to 'Persuasive Speaking' " (1004).

Whatley does an amazing job of painting the images of what—during the nineteenth century, which would be considered the turn of what we would start to become the modern concept of rhetoric—writing as the new rhetorical style would begin to look like. The above quote, however, really captures one of the major elements of this entire piece: through the study of rhetoric and all the definitions of it (prior to Whatley’s writings), the only medium that can truly be considered rhetorical would be the act of speaking persuasively. This excludes any forms of writing—something that, by this time and through the movement of hyper-literacy—as well as any other forms of speaking other than persuasive.

Yet, further on he makes a very interesting point; “…Persuasion, in the strict sense…the influencing of the Will” (1005). What we see starts to change is not the sense of what rhetoric is, but rather what persuasion is. By being something that will influence the Will, it is something to influence the impulses and choices people might make. Informative works—such as thesis and dissertations—persuasive. Indeed, almost every text can become persuasive under this definition. Likewise, all forms of speech and, honestly, all mediums of art fall into this category of persuasion. When the idea of persuasion is what is changed it is our ideas of rhetoric altogether that will be altered.