Synopsis
Elements Of Rhetoric: Comprising The Substance Of The Article In The Encyclopaedia Metropolitana With Additions, &C by Richard Whately is a systematic nineteenth?century treatise that defines and analyzes rhetoric as an offshoot from logic. Whately surveys major definitions of rhetoric, its relation to public speaking and writing, and traces its history from Aristotle to modern times. He presents a middle course: rhetoric as argumentative composition, distinct from but dependent on logical principles, and he outlines a program for study that includes invention, arrangement, the management of passions, and stylistic considerations. The work is structured into four parts: Invention, Arrangement, Introduction of Propositions and Arguments (Chapter I–IV of Part I), Persuasion (Part II), Style (Part III), and Elocution (Part IV). It offers careful guidance on constructing arguments, distinguishing causal and evidential proofs, classifying arguments (from cause to effect, example, testimony, analogy), and balancing direct persuasion with ethical considerations. It also discusses the duties of an educator, the role of logic in rhetoric, and the dangers of sophistry, while insisting on clarity, veracity, and the value of public discourse. The volume was published in 1848 in Boston by James Munroe and Company.
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