Discover what writers throughout history have said about Rhetoric.
For millennia, people have been interested in how to gain influence with others. Many books have been written on the subject. A couple years ago I was on a hike with a well known author on the science of persuasion. I asked him what he thought were the most important principles in persuading others. He thought through his extensive reading on current scientific studies on persuasion. He then distilled that research into a few principles that he thought were the key ways to influence others. Oddly enough, they sounded just like observations Aristotle had made thousands of years ago.
So I asked him, “Did you get these from Aristotle?” He said, “No. I don’t know much about Aristotle.”
This brilliant man was reinventing tools that others had invented thousands of years ago. Brain research is helpful, but it is also expensive and time consuming. We don’t need fMRI machines to tell us about tools and techniques that have worked for thousands of years. On this site you will find resources for learning more about the tradition of rhetoric. These can be found through the menu via Resources>Original Texts.