There is quite a fashion for mining the work of classical thinkers for guidance on work and life.
It’s most obvious, perhaps, in the revival of interest in the ancient stoic philosophy. There is a flood of podcasts and books with titles such as The Daily Stoic, Lessons in Stoicism, The Little Book of Stoicism, many presented much like homilies for the Christian faithful.
The most famous work in the stoic tradition, the Meditations by the stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius, is a bestseller. I’ve also seen new books on epicureanism, and Cicero, the greatest orator of the classical world, is appearing in business sections as a guide to winning arguments.
In that regard we might also consider the most influential book on persuasion ever written, Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric.
Remarkably, after nearly 2,500 years it is also still the most comprehensive manual, exploring in detail the strategy, psychology and craft of making an argument. The book has proven fundamental to the course of western civilisation, continuing to shape the way we argue today, in the law courts, parliament and the business world.
The Rhetoric was written during the era of radical democracy that briefly prevailed in 4th century BC Athens, when the art of speaking became essential for success in public life. Against the venerable Greek tradition that rhetoric was a gift granted to rare individuals by the gods, Aristotle presented it as a skill that could be taught like any other:
It is absurd to hold that a man should be ashamed of an inability to defend himself with his limbs, but not ashamed of an inability to defend himself with speech and reason; for the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.
As Edith Hall summarises it in Aristotle’s Way, an excellent popular guide to his thought, he ‘sees rhetoric as simply a toolkit which enables you to argue the facts relevant to the case in the most convincing manner.’
Constructing an argument
The Rhetoric is a dense, intricate work that moves through passages of clarity and obscurity. But it is possible to learn much even from a bare outline of its central arguments. And since modern communications strategy is ultimately an art of persuasion, it remains an essential text for businesses and organisations today. In the words of Philip Collins, to whose To Be Clear: A Style Guide for Business Writing I am indebted for bringing this interpretation of Aristotle to. my attention:
A good business is an unbroken series of successful acts of persuasion; to understand the market; to inspire employees to give of their best; to entice potential clients or customers to purchase your goods. In a rivalrous market, the prize goes to the company that mounts the most persuasive series of arguments. Corporate strategy is simply a modern description of the way a company defines its acts of persuasion.
Aristotle identifies three modes of argument – deliberative, forensic and display – that work together to provide a robust method for developing a persuasive argument.
The first, the deliberative mode, is how we decide what we want to do, the process through which we consider alternatives to work out a course of action. In Aristotle’s words ‘We deliberate about matters that seem to admit of two possibilities.’
Once we have proposed a case, we submit it to forensic examination, interrogating it for coherence and plausibility. And when our argument has been tested and refined, we are ready to display it, to present it to our audience.
In Aristotle’s day that meant preparing a speech to be delivered to the speaker’s fellow citizens in the Agora. Today it might mean putting together a presentation, writing a press release, or drafting a speech. The steps in the process are the same.
First, we deliberate, develop a case through research and discussion: picture the corporate brain-storming session. Then we examine it for weaknesses: open it up to colleagues for comment. Finally, we consider the manner in which the argument will be displayed: how a text or presentation should be embellished.
This third step can take advantage of the Rhetoric’s many insights as to how to best to present a case.
The elements of persuasion: reason, character and emotion
For Aristotle it is not enough to simply present a solid argument. We must remember that persuasion is an emotional as well as rational transaction. An effective case should encompass what he called ethos and pathos – character and emotion – as well as logos – reason.
Logos is of course essential. Simplicity, precision and brevity, to use Aristotle’s terms, are the pre-condition for persuasion. But he thinks ethos and pathos are even more important.
The convincing writer or speaker must ‘(1) make his own character look right, and (2) put his heroes, who ought to decide, into the right frame of mind. As to his own character, he should make his audience feel that he possesses good sense, moral virtue and goodwill.’
So he must be perceived as virtuous, in sympathy with the audience’s values and beliefs. He must prove her practical wisdom, demonstrating his competence in his field. And he must exhibit disinterest, a perceived independence of mind, the appearance of speaking freely, even if he – and the audience- knows he has an agenda. As Cicero, following Aristotle, suggested, speakers can project this impression of objectivity if they present their argument somewhat diffidently, almost as if they themselves were having to be convinced of the case they themselves are making.
The third element of persuasion, after logos and ethos, is pathos, the art of charging the audience’s emotions, of disposing them to see things the speaker’s way.
That doesn’t mean resorting to sentimentality or bombast. The Rhetoric identifies an extraordinary range of techniques for eliciting emotion.
Amongst those he considers most effective are the use of imagery and narrative, both of which invest an argument with life and verve. A good writer makes the reader see the force of her case using concrete images rather than hazy abstractions. And she casts her argument in the form of a story, compelling the reader forward, leading him through a drama, from scene to scene.
The Aristotelean trinities
Together these two Aristotelean trinities, deliberation, forensic, display, and logos, ethos and pathos, offer a systematic framework for effective business writing.
We propose and test an argument through deliberation and examination, and employ logos, ethos, pathos to display it to present it effectively.
There is a lot more to the Rhetoric than that, which I intend to discuss on this blog. But there is much to be learned today by keeping this simple proven framework in mind.