Verbal reasoning is understanding and reasoning using concepts framed in words. It aims at evaluating ability to think constructively, rather than at simple fluency or vocabulary recognition.
99-561: Verbal reasoning tests of intelligence provide an assessment of an individual's ability to think, reason and solve problems in different ways. For this reason, verbal reasoning tests are often used as entrance examinations by schools, colleges and universities to select the most able applicants. Additionally, such tests are also used by a growing number of employers as part of the selection/ recruitment process. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III (WAIS-III) divides Verbal IQ (VIQ) into two categories: The Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
198-475: A " hypersurface in a multidimensional space" to compare systems that are good at different intellectual tasks. Some skeptics believe that there is no meaningful way to define intelligence, aside from "just pointing to ourselves". Rhetoric Rhetoric ( / ˈ r ɛ t ə r ɪ k / ) is the art of persuasion . It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium ) along with grammar and logic / dialectic . As an academic discipline within
297-589: A civic art of rhetoric, combining the almost incompatible properties of techne and appropriateness to citizens." Each of Aristotle's divisions plays a role in civic life and can be used in a different way to affect the polis . Because rhetoric is a public art capable of shaping opinion, some of the ancients, including Plato found fault in it. They claimed that while it could be used to improve civic life, it could be used just as easily to deceive or manipulate. The masses were incapable of analyzing or deciding anything on their own and would therefore be swayed by
396-601: A course of study has evolved since its ancient beginnings, and has adapted to the particular exigencies of various times, venues, and applications ranging from architecture to literature. Although the curriculum has transformed in a number of ways, it has generally emphasized the study of principles and rules of composition as a means for moving audiences. Rhetoric began as a civic art in Ancient Greece where students were trained to develop tactics of oratorical persuasion, especially in legal disputes. Rhetoric originated in
495-452: A fairly high degree of intellect that varies according to each species. The same is true with arthropods . Evidence of a general factor of intelligence has been observed in non-human animals. First described in humans , the g factor has since been identified in a number of non-human species. Cognitive ability and intelligence cannot be measured using the same, largely verbally dependent, scales developed for humans. Instead, intelligence
594-434: A fundamental quality possessed by every person is the theory of General Intelligence, or g factor . The g factor is a construct that summarizes the correlations observed between an individual's scores on a range of cognitive tests. Today, most psychologists agree that IQ measures at least some aspects of human intelligence, particularly the ability to thrive in an academic context. However, many psychologists question
693-638: A given person's intellectual performance will vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. Concepts of "intelligence" are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in some areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions, and none commands universal assent. Indeed, when two dozen prominent theorists were recently asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions. Psychologists and learning researchers also have suggested definitions of intelligence such as
792-576: A good man, a person enlightened on a variety of civic topics. He describes the proper training of the orator in his major text on rhetoric, De Oratore , which he modeled on Plato's dialogues. Modern works continue to support the claims of the ancients that rhetoric is an art capable of influencing civic life. In Political Style , Robert Hariman claims that "questions of freedom, equality, and justice often are raised and addressed through performances ranging from debates to demonstrations without loss of moral content". James Boyd White argues that rhetoric
891-473: A group. This definition of rhetoric as identification broadens the scope from strategic and overt political persuasion to the more implicit tactics of identification found in an immense range of sources . Among the many scholars who have since pursued Burke's line of thought, James Boyd White sees rhetoric as a broader domain of social experience in his notion of constitutive rhetoric . Influenced by theories of social construction , White argues that culture
990-529: A guide to creating persuasive messages and arguments: Memory was added much later to the original four canons. During the Renaissance rhetoric enjoyed a resurgence, and as a result nearly every author who wrote about music before the Romantic era discussed rhetoric. Joachim Burmeister wrote in 1601, "there is only little difference between music and the nature of oration". Christoph Bernhard in
1089-518: A limited field, ignoring many critical applications of rhetorical theory, criticism, and practice. Simultaneously, the neo-Sophists threaten to expand rhetoric beyond a point of coherent theoretical value. In more recent years, people studying rhetoric have tended to enlarge its object domain beyond speech. Kenneth Burke asserted humans use rhetoric to resolve conflicts by identifying shared characteristics and interests in symbols. People engage in identification , either to assign themselves or another to
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#17327931948371188-501: A much more diverse range of domains than was the case in ancient times. While classical rhetoric trained speakers to be effective persuaders in public forums and in institutions such as courtrooms and assemblies, contemporary rhetoric investigates human discourse writ large . Rhetoricians have studied the discourses of a wide variety of domains, including the natural and social sciences, fine art, religion, journalism, digital media, fiction, history, cartography , and architecture, along with
1287-404: A positive image, potentially at the expense of suppressing dissent or criticism. An example of this is the government's actions in freezing bank accounts and regulating internet speech, ostensibly to protect the vulnerable and preserve freedom of expression, despite contradicting values and rights. The origins of the rhetoric language begin in Ancient Greece. It originally began by a group named
1386-473: A revival with the rise of democratic institutions during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hugh Blair was a key early leader of this movement. In his most famous work, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres , he advocates rhetorical study for common citizens as a resource for social success. Many American colleges and secondary schools used Blair's text throughout the 19th century to train students of rhetoric. Political rhetoric also underwent renewal in
1485-532: A school of pre-Socratic philosophers known as the Sophists c. 600 BCE . Demosthenes and Lysias emerged as major orators during this period, and Isocrates and Gorgias as prominent teachers. Modern teachings continue to reference these rhetoricians and their work in discussions of classical rhetoric and persuasion. Rhetoric was taught in universities during the Middle Ages as one of
1584-478: A successful rhetorician could speak convincingly on a topic in any field, regardless of his experience in that field. This suggested rhetoric could be a means of communicating any expertise, not just politics. In his Encomium to Helen , Gorgias even applied rhetoric to fiction by seeking, for his amusement, to prove the blamelessness of the mythical Helen of Troy in starting the Trojan War . Plato defined
1683-443: A tool to influence communities from local to national levels. Political parties employ "manipulative rhetoric" to advance their party-line goals and lobbyist agendas. They use it to portray themselves as champions of compassion, freedom, and culture, all while implementing policies that appear to contradict these claims. It serves as a form of political propaganda, presented to sway and maintain public opinion in their favor, and garner
1782-399: Is not a proposition, because it does not appear to make any true/false assertion (that is, there is nothing meant by the sentence that one could say were or weren't "true"). A premise is a proposition in an argument which will justify or induce a conclusion. That is, premises are propositions which, if true , allow for the logical inference of an associated proposition which is known as
1881-425: Is "reconstituted" through language. Just as language influences people, people influence language. Language is socially constructed, and depends on the meanings people attach to it. Because language is not rigid and changes depending on the situation, the very usage of language is rhetorical. An author, White would say, is always trying to construct a new world and persuading his or her readers to share that world within
1980-438: Is Epistemic?". In it, he focuses on uncovering the most appropriate definitions for the terms "rhetoric", "knowledge", and "certainty". According to Harpine, certainty is either objective or subjective. Although both Scotts and Cherwitz and Hikins theories deal with some form of certainty, Harpine believes that knowledge is not required to be neither objectively nor subjectively certain. In terms of "rhetoric", Harpine argues that
2079-687: Is a classic measure that evaluates the verbal reasoning ability of participants who are applying to a graduate law school. The multiple choice sections are broken up into three parts: Large graduate training schemes are increasingly using verbal reasoning tests (verbals) to distinguish between applicants. The types of verbals candidates face in these assessments are typically looking to assess understanding and comprehension skills. Verbal reasoning tests are often used during recruitment for positions in many industries, such as banking, finance, management consulting, mining and accounting. The tests are used as an efficient way to short list candidates for later stages of
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#17327931948372178-538: Is also known for describing her process of invention in "The Exaltation of Inanna," moving between first- and third-person address to relate her composing process in collaboration with the goddess Inanna, reflecting a mystical enthymeme in drawing upon a Cosmic audience. Later examples of early rhetoric can be found in the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the time of Sennacherib (704–681 BCE ). In ancient Egypt , rhetoric had existed since at least
2277-464: Is an overwhelming majority that does support the concept of certainty as a requirement for knowledge , but it is at the definition of certainty where parties begin to diverge. One definition maintains that certainty is subjective and feeling-based, the other that it is a byproduct of justification . The more commonly accepted definition of rhetoric claims it is synonymous with persuasion . For rhetorical purposes, this definition, like many others,
2376-438: Is because the defining feature of a proposition is that it is necessarily making some assertion which can intelligibly be assigned a truth value . In other words: statements are only propositions if they are Truth-apt. To illustrate this principled distinction, let us consider the following two statements: The first sentence is a proposition because it purports a fact which is either true or untrue. The second sentence, however,
2475-515: Is called artificial intelligence . The word intelligence derives from the Latin nouns intelligentia or intellēctus , which in turn stem from the verb intelligere , to comprehend or perceive. In the Middle Ages , the word intellectus became the scholarly technical term for understanding and a translation for the Greek philosophical term nous . This term, however, was strongly linked to
2574-468: Is capable not only of addressing issues of political interest but that it can influence culture as a whole. In his book, When Words Lose Their Meaning , he argues that words of persuasion and identification define community and civic life. He states that words produce "the methods by which culture is maintained, criticized, and transformed". Rhetoric remains relevant as a civic art. In speeches, as well as in non-verbal forms, rhetoric continues to be used as
2673-450: Is different from learning . Learning refers to the act of retaining facts and information or abilities and being able to recall them for future use. Intelligence, on the other hand, is the cognitive ability of someone to perform these and other processes. There have been various attempts to quantify intelligence via psychometric testing. Prominent among these are the various Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests, which were first developed in
2772-516: Is difficult to define. Political discourse remains the paradigmatic example for studying and theorizing specific techniques and conceptions of persuasion or rhetoric. Throughout European History , rhetoric meant persuasion in public and political settings such as assemblies and courts. Because of its associations with democratic institutions, rhetoric is commonly said to flourish in open and democratic societies with rights of free speech , free assembly, and political enfranchisement for some portion of
2871-496: Is especially used by the fields of marketing, politics, and literature. Another area of rhetoric is the study of cultural rhetorics, which is the communication that occurs between cultures and the study of the way members of a culture communicate with each other. These ideas can then be studied and understood by other cultures, in order to bridge gaps in modes of communication and help different cultures communicate effectively with each other. James Zappen defines cultural rhetorics as
2970-409: Is important to our mental health and has ties to social intelligence. Social intelligence is the ability to understand the social cues and motivations of others and oneself in social situations. It is thought to be distinct to other types of intelligence, but has relations to emotional intelligence. Social intelligence has coincided with other studies that focus on how we make judgements of others,
3069-445: Is juxtaposed against inductive arguments , in which there is merely a chance of some premise(s) (and/or conclusion(s)) being true. An argument is a series of premises together with one or more conclusion(s). Arguments can serve a variety of purposes, ranging from determining the degree of truth of a conclusion, to persuading individuals to accept or reject some belief(s) (as in the case of rhetoric ). An additional note on arguments
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3168-785: Is measured using a variety of interactive and observational tools focusing on innovation , habit reversal, social learning , and responses to novelty . Studies have shown that g is responsible for 47% of the individual variance in cognitive ability measures in primates and between 55% and 60% of the variance in mice (Locurto, Locurto). These values are similar to the accepted variance in IQ explained by g in humans (40–50%). It has been argued that plants should also be classified as intelligent based on their ability to sense and model external and internal environments and adjust their morphology , physiology and phenotype accordingly to ensure self-preservation and reproduction. A counter argument
3267-552: Is no institution devised by man which the power of speech has not helped us to establish." With this statement he argues that rhetoric is a fundamental part of civic life in every society and that it has been necessary in the foundation of all aspects of society. He further argues in Against the Sophists that rhetoric, although it cannot be taught to just anyone, is capable of shaping the character of man. He writes, "I do think that
3366-457: Is sometimes defined as the "capacity to learn how to carry out a huge range of tasks". Mathematician Olle Häggström defines intelligence in terms of "optimization power", an agent's capacity for efficient cross-domain optimization of the world according to the agent's preferences, or more simply the ability to "steer the future into regions of possibility ranked high in a preference ordering". In this optimization framework, Deep Blue has
3465-788: Is that intelligence is commonly understood to involve the creation and use of persistent memories as opposed to computation that does not involve learning. If this is accepted as definitive of intelligence, then it includes the artificial intelligence of robots capable of "machine learning", but excludes those purely autonomic sense-reaction responses that can be observed in many plants. Plants are not limited to automated sensory-motor responses, however, they are capable of discriminating positive and negative experiences and of "learning" (registering memories) from their past experiences. They are also capable of communication, accurately computing their circumstances, using sophisticated cost–benefit analysis and taking tightly controlled actions to mitigate and control
3564-421: Is that they may take a number of different forms, including that of a syllogism , essay , or dialogue (among others). To the extent which argument overlaps with and is reliant upon language, it may be considered one of the central concerns of verbal reasoning (or for that matter any reasoning, at large). At this point a sort of maximal scope has been reached, wherein it is appropriate to point out and address
3663-450: Is thought to be the ability to convey emotion to others in an understandable way as well as to read the emotions of others accurately. Some theories imply that a heightened emotional intelligence could also lead to faster generating and processing of emotions in addition to the accuracy. In addition, higher emotional intelligence is thought to help us manage emotions, which is beneficial for our problem-solving skills. Emotional intelligence
3762-419: Is to be based purely on the information in the passage. This section of the article briefly elucidates the general elements relating to verbal reasoning in order of increasing complexity. Vocabulary (the knowledge of words' meanings in a language) and grammar (knowledge of words' proper relation to one another in a language) can function both as prerequisites as well as topics of focus of verbal reasoning. In
3861-528: Is too broad. The same issue presents itself with definitions that are too narrow. Rhetoricians in support of the epistemic view of rhetoric have yet to agree in this regard. Philosophical teachings refer to knowledge as a justified true belief . However, the Gettier Problem explores the room for fallacy in this concept. Therefore, the Gettier Problem impedes the effectivity of the argument of Richard A. Cherwitz and James A. Hikins, who employ
3960-558: The Middle Kingdom period ( c. 2080–1640 BCE ). The five canons of eloquence in ancient Egyptian rhetoric were silence, timing, restraint, fluency, and truthfulness. The Egyptians held eloquent speaking in high esteem. Egyptian rules of rhetoric specified that "knowing when not to speak is essential, and very respected, rhetorical knowledge", making rhetoric a "balance between eloquence and wise silence". They also emphasized "adherence to social behaviors that support
4059-403: The humanities , rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or writers use to inform, persuade, and motivate their audiences . Rhetoric also provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations. Aristotle defined rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion", and since mastery of the art
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4158-402: The justified true belief standpoint in their argument for rhetoric as epistemic . Celeste Condit Railsback takes a different approach, drawing from Ray E. McKerrow's system of belief based on validity rather than certainty . William D. Harpine refers to the issue of unclear definitions that occurs in the theories of "rhetoric is epistemic" in his 2004 article "What Do You Mean, Rhetoric
4257-659: The metaphysical and cosmological theories of teleological scholasticism , including theories of the immortality of the soul, and the concept of the active intellect (also known as the active intelligence). This approach to the study of nature was strongly rejected by early modern philosophers such as Francis Bacon , Thomas Hobbes , John Locke , and David Hume , all of whom preferred "understanding" (in place of " intellectus " or "intelligence") in their English philosophical works. Hobbes for example, in his Latin De Corpore , used " intellectus intelligit ", translated in
4356-462: The validity of IQ tests as a measure of intelligence as a whole. There is debate about the heritability of IQ , that is, what proportion of differences in IQ test performance between individuals are explained by genetic or environmental factors. The scientific consensus is that genetics does not explain average differences in IQ test performance between racial groups. Emotional intelligence
4455-447: The "conclusion". To give an example: the statement "John is a bachelor" is a premise in the one-sentence argument " John is a bachelor, therefore John is unmarried ", and the conclusion is that "John is unmarried". Premises may be treated somewhat differently according to the specific type of argument in which they occur. In a deductive argument , premises are often assumed to be true — regardless of whether or not they really are. This
4554-549: The Athenians did, indeed rely on persuasive speech, more during public speak, and four new political processes, also increasing the sophists trainings leading too many victories for legal cases, public debate, and even a simple persuasive speech. This ultimately led to concerns rising on falsehood over truth, with highly trained, persuasive speakers, knowingly, misinforming. Rhetoric has its origins in Mesopotamia . Some of
4653-469: The Athenians persuasive speech, with the goal of navigating the courts and senate. The sophists became speech teachers known as Sophia; Greek for "wisdom" and root for philosophy, or " love of wisdom" – the sophists came to be common term for someone who sold wisdom for money. Although there is no clear understanding why the Sicilians engaged to educating the Athenians persuasive speech. It is known that
4752-489: The English version as "the understanding understandeth", as a typical example of a logical absurdity . "Intelligence" has therefore become less common in English language philosophy, but it has later been taken up (with the scholastic theories that it now implies) in more contemporary psychology . There is controversy over how to define intelligence. Scholars describe its constituent abilities in various ways, and differ in
4851-408: The Sophists, who wanted to teach the Athenians to speak persuasively in order to be able to navigate themselves in the court and senate. What inspired this form of persuasive speech came about through a new form of government, known as democracy, that was being experimented with. Consequently people began to fear that persuasive speech would overpower truth. Aristotle however believed that this technique
4950-429: The accuracy with which we do so, and why people would be viewed as having positive or negative social character . There is debate as to whether or not these studies and social intelligence come from the same theories or if there is a distinction between them, and they are generally thought to be of two different schools of thought . Moral intelligence is the capacity to understand right from wrong and to behave based on
5049-427: The assembly decides about future events, a juryman about past events: while those who merely decide on the orator's skill are observers. From this it follows that there are three divisions of oratory—(1) political, (2) forensic, and (3) the ceremonial oratory of display". Eugene Garver, in his critique of Aristotle's Rhetoric , confirms that Aristotle viewed rhetoric as a civic art. Garver writes, " Rhetoric articulates
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#17327931948375148-404: The capacity for abstraction , logic , understanding , self-awareness , learning , emotional knowledge , reasoning , planning , creativity , critical thinking , and problem-solving . It can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information ; and to retain it as knowledge to be applied to adaptive behaviors within an environment or context. The term rose to prominence during
5247-475: The city area – the citizens of Athens formed institutions to the red processes: are the Senate, jury trials, and forms of public discussions, but people needed to learn how to navigate these new institutions. With no forms of passing on the information, other than word of mouth the Athenians needed an effective strategy to inform the people. A group of wandering Sicilian's later known as the Sophists , began teaching
5346-533: The cognitive abilities to learn , form concepts , understand , and reason , including the capacities to recognize patterns , innovate, plan , solve problems , and employ language to communicate . These cognitive abilities can be organized into frameworks like fluid vs. crystallized and the Unified Cattell-Horn-Carroll model, which contains abilities like fluid reasoning, perceptual speed, verbal abilities, and others. Intelligence
5445-539: The definition of rhetoric as "the art of persuasion" is the best choice in the context of this theoretical approach of rhetoric as epistemic. Harpine then proceeds to present two methods of approaching the idea of rhetoric as epistemic based on the definitions presented. One centers on Alston's view that one's beliefs are justified if formed by one's normal doxastic while the other focuses on the causal theory of knowledge. Both approaches manage to avoid Gettier's problems and do not rely on unclear conceptions of certainty. In
5544-432: The definition of rhetoric to be the ability to identify the appropriate means of persuasion in a given situation based upon the art of rhetoric ( technê ). This made rhetoric applicable to all fields, not just politics. Aristotle viewed the enthymeme based upon logic (especially, based upon the syllogism) as the basis of rhetoric. Aristotle also outlined generic constraints that focused the rhetorical art squarely within
5643-709: The degree to which they conceive of intelligence as quantifiable. A consensus report called Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns , published in 1995 by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association , states: Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be substantial, they are never entirely consistent:
5742-418: The discussion of rhetoric and epistemology , comes the question of ethics . Is it ethical for rhetoric to present itself in the branch of knowledge ? Scott rears this question, addressing the issue, not with ambiguity in the definitions of other terms, but against subjectivity regarding certainty . Ultimately, according to Thomas O. Sloane, rhetoric and epistemology exist as counterparts, working towards
5841-870: The diverse environmental stressors. Scholars studying artificial intelligence have proposed definitions of intelligence that include the intelligence demonstrated by machines. Some of these definitions are meant to be general enough to encompass human and other animal intelligence as well. An intelligent agent can be defined as a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. Kaplan and Haenlein define artificial intelligence as "a system's ability to correctly interpret external data, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation". Progress in artificial intelligence can be demonstrated in benchmarks ranging from games to practical tasks such as protein folding . Existing AI lags humans in terms of general intelligence, which
5940-423: The division between the Sophists and Aristotle. Neo-Aristotelians generally study rhetoric as political discourse, while the neo-Sophistic view contends that rhetoric cannot be so limited. Rhetorical scholar Michael Leff characterizes the conflict between these positions as viewing rhetoric as a "thing contained" versus a "container". The neo-Aristotelian view threatens the study of rhetoric by restraining it to such
6039-405: The domain of public political practice. He restricted rhetoric to the domain of the contingent or probable: those matters that admit multiple legitimate opinions or arguments. Since the time of Aristotle, logic has changed. For example, modal logic has undergone a major development that also modifies rhetoric. The contemporary neo-Aristotelian and neo-Sophistic positions on rhetoric mirror
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#17327931948376138-558: The earliest examples of rhetoric can be found in the Akkadian writings of the princess and priestess Enheduanna ( c. 2285–2250 BCE ). As the first named author in history, Enheduanna's writing exhibits numerous rhetorical features that would later become canon in Ancient Greece. Enheduanna's "The Exaltation of Inanna ," includes an exordium , argument , and peroration , as well as elements of ethos , pathos , and logos , and repetition and metonymy . She
6237-431: The early 1900s. Most psychologists believe that intelligence can be divided into various domains or competencies. Intelligence has been long-studied in humans , and across numerous disciplines. It has also been observed in the cognition of non-human animals . Some researchers have suggested that plants exhibit forms of intelligence, though this remains controversial. Intelligence in computers or other machines
6336-400: The early 20th century to screen children for intellectual disability . Over time, IQ tests became more pervasive, being used to screen immigrants, military recruits, and job applicants. As the tests became more popular, belief that IQ tests measure a fundamental and unchanging attribute that all humans possess became widespread. An influential theory that promoted the idea that IQ measures
6435-503: The expanse of implications these words hold. Those who have identified this inconsistency maintain the idea that Scott's relation is important, but requires further study. The root of the issue lies in the ambiguous use of the term rhetoric itself, as well as the epistemological terms knowledge , certainty , and truth . Though counterintuitive and vague, Scott's claims are accepted by some academics, but are then used to draw different conclusions. Sonja K. Foss , for example, takes on
6534-459: The fall of the Roman republic, poetry became a tool for rhetorical training since there were fewer opportunities for political speech. Letter writing was the primary way business was conducted both in state and church, so it became an important aspect of rhetorical education. Rhetorical education became more restrained as style and substance separated in 16th-century France, and attention turned to
6633-617: The following: "Intelligence is a force, F, that acts so as to maximize future freedom of action. It acts to maximize future freedom of action, or keep options open, with some strength T, with the diversity of possible accessible futures, S, up to some future time horizon, τ. In short, intelligence doesn't like to get trapped". Human intelligence is the intellectual power of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness . Intelligence enables humans to remember descriptions of things and use those descriptions in future behaviors. It gives humans
6732-404: The former capacity, they are used to form propositions and arguments (see below), while in the latter capacity they are the subject of analysis and evaluation, where verbal reasoning synthesizes linguistic information and analyzes relationships among component parts of sentences, words, and concepts. The basic element of reasoning (verbal, or otherwise) is the proposition . A proposition is simply
6831-626: The growth of the study of rhetoric in colleges across the United States. Harvard's rhetoric program drew inspiration from literary sources to guide organization and style, and studies the rhetoric used in political communication to illustrate how political figures persuade audiences. William G. Allen became the first American college professor of rhetoric, at New-York Central College , 1850–1853. Debate clubs and lyceums also developed as forums in which common citizens could hear speakers and sharpen debate skills. The American lyceum in particular
6930-448: The idea that rhetoric is concerned with negotiation and listening, not persuasion, which differs from ancient definitions. Some ancient rhetoric was disparaged because its persuasive techniques could be used to teach falsehoods. Communication as studied in cultural rhetorics is focused on listening and negotiation, and has little to do with persuasion. Rhetorical education focused on five canons . The Five Canons of Rhetoric serve as
7029-423: The importance of learning through text in our own personal lives and in our culture, it is perhaps surprising how utterly dismissive we tend to be of it. It is sometimes derided as being merely "book knowledge", and having it is being "book smart". In contrast, knowledge acquired through direct experience and apprenticeship is called "street knowledge", and having it is being "street smart". Although humans have been
7128-487: The issue of circularity . Insofar as verbal reasoning is used to create and analyze arguments of language, while at the same time arguments (using language as their vehicle) are used to exercise and analyze reasoning , there will be some inevitable degree of circularity between the two. This point offers a fitting conclusion to the current section, and serves to reiterate the importance of verbal reasoning. Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways:
7227-424: The language-using Kanzi ) and other great apes , dolphins , elephants and to some extent parrots , rats and ravens . Cephalopod intelligence provides an important comparative study. Cephalopods appear to exhibit characteristics of significant intelligence, yet their nervous systems differ radically from those of backboned animals. Vertebrates such as mammals , birds , reptiles and fish have shown
7326-475: The late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role in Western education in training orators , lawyers , counsellors, historians , statesmen , and poets . Scholars have debated the scope of rhetoric since ancient times. Although some have limited rhetoric to the specific realm of political discourse , to many modern scholars it encompasses every aspect of culture. Contemporary studies of rhetoric address
7425-481: The latter half of the century said "...until the art of music has attained such a height in our own day, that it may indeed be compared to a rhetoric, in view of the multitude of figures" . Epistemology and rhetoric have been compared to one another for decades, but the specifications of their similarities have gone undefined. Since scholar Robert L. Scott stated that, "rhetoric is epistemic ," rhetoricians and philosophers alike have struggled to concretely define
7524-450: The meaning behind a declarative sentence that can be either true or false (note: special care is taken here to mention that the proposition is specifically what is meant by such a sentence, and is not the actual sentence itself). In other words, a proposition is something that one can know, believe, think, assume, or so on. Worth explicitly mentioning here is that only some (and not necessarily all) statements count as propositions. This
7623-444: The modes of persuasion: ethos , pathos , and logos ) and trace rhetorical development through history. Rhetoric earned a more esteemed reputation as a field of study with the emergence of Communication Studies departments and of Rhetoric and Composition programs within English departments in universities, and in conjunction with the linguistic turn in Western philosophy . Rhetorical study has broadened in scope, and
7722-417: The more traditional domains of politics and the law. Because the ancient Greeks valued public political participation, rhetoric emerged as an important curriculum for those desiring to influence politics. Rhetoric is still associated with its political origins. However, even the original instructors of Western speech—the Sophists —disputed this limited view of rhetoric. According to Sophists like Gorgias ,
7821-551: The most persuasive speeches. Thus, civic life could be controlled by whoever could deliver the best speech. Plato explores the problematic moral status of rhetoric twice: in Gorgias and in The Phaedrus , a dialogue best-known for its commentary on love. More trusting in the power of rhetoric to support a republic, the Roman orator Cicero argued that art required something more than eloquence. A good orator needed also to be
7920-478: The population. Those who classify rhetoric as a civic art believe that rhetoric has the power to shape communities, form the character of citizens, and greatly affect civic life. Rhetoric was viewed as a civic art by several of the ancient philosophers. Aristotle and Isocrates were two of the first to see rhetoric in this light. In Antidosis , Isocrates states, "We have come together and founded cities and made laws and invented arts; and, generally speaking, there
8019-431: The power to "steer a chessboard's future into a subspace of possibility which it labels as 'winning', despite attempts by Garry Kasparov to steer the future elsewhere." Hutter and Legg , after surveying the literature, define intelligence as "an agent's ability to achieve goals in a wide range of environments". While cognitive ability is sometimes measured as a one-dimensional parameter, it could also be represented as
8118-438: The primary focus of intelligence researchers, scientists have also attempted to investigate animal intelligence, or more broadly, animal cognition. These researchers are interested in studying both mental ability in a particular species , and comparing abilities between species. They study various measures of problem solving, as well as numerical and verbal reasoning abilities. Some challenges include defining intelligence so it has
8217-400: The recruitment process, such as interview. When used in recruitment, the tests normally include a series of text passages regarding a random topic. Then there will be a series of statements regarding the passages. The candidate must then determine if the statement is true, false or they can not tell (it is ambiguous). The candidate is not expected to know anything about the topics, and the answer
8316-407: The same meaning across species, and operationalizing a measure that accurately compares mental ability across species and contexts. Wolfgang Köhler 's research on the intelligence of apes is an example of research in this area, as is Stanley Coren's book, The Intelligence of Dogs . Non-human animals particularly noted and studied for their intelligence include chimpanzees , bonobos (notably
8415-484: The same purpose of establishing knowledge , with the common enemy of subjective certainty . Rhetoric is a persuasive speech that holds people to a common purpose and therefore facilitates collective action. During the fifth century BCE, Athens had become active in metropolis and people all over there. During this time the Greek city state had been experimenting with a new form of government – democracy, demos , "the people". Political and cultural identity had been tied to
8514-639: The scientific method. Influential scholars like Peter Ramus argued that the processes of invention and arrangement should be elevated to the domain of philosophy, while rhetorical instruction should be chiefly concerned with the use of figures and other forms of the ornamentation of language. Scholars such as Francis Bacon developed the study of "scientific rhetoric" which rejected the elaborate style characteristic of classical oration. This plain language carried over to John Locke 's teaching, which emphasized concrete knowledge and steered away from ornamentation in speech, further alienating rhetorical instruction—which
8613-466: The scope of rhetoric according to his negative opinions of the art. He criticized the Sophists for using rhetoric to deceive rather than to discover truth. In Gorgias , one of his Socratic Dialogues , Plato defines rhetoric as the persuasion of ignorant masses within the courts and assemblies. Rhetoric, in Plato's opinion, is merely a form of flattery and functions similarly to culinary arts , which mask
8712-558: The study of political discourse can help more than any other thing to stimulate and form such qualities of character." Aristotle, writing several years after Isocrates, supported many of his arguments and argued for rhetoric as a civic art. In the words of Aristotle, in the Rhetoric , rhetoric is "...the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion". According to Aristotle, this art of persuasion could be used in public settings in three different ways: "A member of
8811-453: The text. People engage in rhetoric any time they speak or produce meaning. Even in the field of science , via practices which were once viewed as being merely the objective testing and reporting of knowledge, scientists persuade their audience to accept their findings by sufficiently demonstrating that their study or experiment was conducted reliably and resulted in sufficient evidence to support their conclusions. The vast scope of rhetoric
8910-470: The three original liberal arts or trivium (along with logic and grammar ). During the medieval period, political rhetoric declined as republican oratory died out and the emperors of Rome garnered increasing authority. With the rise of European monarchs, rhetoric shifted into courtly and religious applications. Augustine exerted strong influence on Christian rhetoric in the Middle Ages, advocating
9009-571: The undesirability of unhealthy food by making it taste good. Plato considered any speech of lengthy prose aimed at flattery as within the scope of rhetoric. Some scholars, however, contest the idea that Plato despised rhetoric and instead view his dialogues as a dramatization of complex rhetorical principles. Aristotle both redeemed rhetoric from his teacher and narrowed its focus by defining three genres of rhetoric— deliberative , forensic or judicial, and epideictic . Yet, even as he provided order to existing rhetorical theories, Aristotle generalized
9108-416: The use of rhetoric to lead audiences to truth and understanding, especially in the church. The study of liberal arts, he believed, contributed to rhetorical study: "In the case of a keen and ardent nature, fine words will come more readily through reading and hearing the eloquent than by pursuing the rules of rhetoric." Poetry and letter writing became central to rhetorical study during the Middle Ages. After
9207-617: The value that is believed to be right. It is considered a distinct form of intelligence, independent to both emotional and cognitive intelligence. Concepts of "book smarts" and "street smart" are contrasting views based on the premise that some people have knowledge gained through academic study, but may lack the experience to sensibly apply that knowledge, while others have knowledge gained through practical experience, but may lack accurate information usually gained through study by which to effectively apply that knowledge. Artificial intelligence researcher Hector Levesque has noted that: Given
9306-483: The view that, "rhetoric creates knowledge," whereas James Herrick writes that rhetoric assists in people's ability to form beliefs , which are defined as knowledge once they become widespread in a community. It is unclear whether Scott holds that certainty is an inherent part of establishing knowledge , his references to the term abstract. He is not the only one, as the debate's persistence in philosophical circles long predates his addition of rhetoric. There
9405-497: The wake of the U.S. and French revolutions. The rhetorical studies of ancient Greece and Rome were resurrected as speakers and teachers looked to Cicero and others to inspire defenses of the new republics. Leading rhetorical theorists included John Quincy Adams of Harvard , who advocated the democratic advancement of rhetorical art. Harvard's founding of the Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory sparked
9504-445: Was an art, and that persuasive speech could have truth and logic embedded within it. In the end, rhetoric speech still remained popular and was used by many scholars and philosophers. The study of rhetoric trains students to speak and/or write effectively, and to critically understand and analyze discourse. It is concerned with how people use symbols, especially language, to reach agreement that permits coordinated effort. Rhetoric as
9603-465: Was identified wholly with such ornamentation—from the pursuit of knowledge. In the 18th century, rhetoric assumed a more social role, leading to the creation of new education systems (predominantly in England): " Elocution schools" in which girls and women analyzed classic literature, most notably the works of William Shakespeare , and discussed pronunciation tactics. The study of rhetoric underwent
9702-522: Was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he called it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Aristotle also identified three persuasive audience appeals: logos , pathos , and ethos . The five canons of rhetoric , or phases of developing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome: invention , arrangement , style , memory , and delivery . From Ancient Greece to
9801-467: Was seen as both an educational and social institution, featuring group discussions and guest lecturers. These programs cultivated democratic values and promoted active participation in political analysis. Throughout the 20th century, rhetoric developed as a concentrated field of study, with the establishment of rhetorical courses in high schools and universities. Courses such as public speaking and speech analysis apply fundamental Greek theories (such as
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