You make it sound like these are bad things. Yes, life and liberty
depend on skill in rhetoric. That is preferable to dependence on skill
in shooting and stabbing. Let us not ignore the development of the
meaning of the word "rhetoric." In the 20th Century certain evil men
successfully associated rhetoric with their exploits. There is a
difference between emotional connection and good rhetoric, however.
Good rhetoric is logical. That teutonic dictator did not fancy logic.
Until the barbaric preceding century, school children routinely had
courses, uncontroversially, in rhetoric. It was considered an important
skill. Today, however, children are not taught about the age-old
tricks. As a result, they are atrociously susceptible to nakedly
deceptive marketing pitches.
Herodotus wrote that the jury system was a gift from the gods,
fashoined by Apollo to address the inability of lone judges to dissolve
bitter social feuds. Only the judgment of the community, as voiced by
its representatives, the jurors, could disarm social disharmony and
re-introduce domestic peace. The jury wasn't perfect then, but it still
isn't after milennia of improvements.
Andrew Hagen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Thu, 24 May 2001 15:43:57 -0500, Carrol Cox wrote:
>The Athenian "Jury" is not even analogous to any modern legal tradition
>-- it much more resembled an SDS convention or the British House of
>Commons in one of its more unruly moments. It consisted of numerous
>hundreds of citizens, there was no judge, no prosecuting attorney, no
>defense attorney. This system combined with a real love of lawsuits by
>many Athenians made public speaking skill fulfill somewhat the same
>purpose as accurate shooting in the West of the movies. Your life and/or
>property could depend on your skill in rhetoric. This in part accounts
>for the antipathy to the sophists of anti-democrats such as Plato &
>Aristotle: they taught "common people" to defend themselves -- to make
>the worse appear the better reason.
>
>Carrol
>
>P.S. Who first used this subject line and coined the word "origination"?
>
>
