“Whately and His Rhetoric” by Wayland Maxfield Parrish

My article is entitled “Whately and His Rhetoric” by Wayland Maxfield Parrish. We discussed in class how Richard Whately reunited rhetoric and logic, and also how he defines rhetoric as “the study of argument”. Whately is also know for his contributions which deal with presumption and the burden of proof.

Whately had many influences which contributed to the writing of, and many revisions of his Rhetoric. The first of his influences is Edward Copleson who was Whately’s tutor and friend. Copleson assisted in Whately’s early training in logic along with Aristotle’s Rhetoric. He was also influenced by his time in the Oriel Common Room along with his interest in various subjects such as politics.

Whately’s definition treats Rhetoric as “argumentative composition, generally and exclusively.” His Rhetoric can be divided into four parts; conviction, persuasion, style, and elocution. Conviction, the focus of Whately’s interest, is also the part of Rhetoric that lies closest to logic. Whately’s Rhetoric focuses specifically on issues of argument.

He unites conviction and persuasion by stating, “The conviction of understanding...is an essential part of persuasion. Basically, if you have a convincing argument, the audience will most likely be persuaded.

Whately’s theory as stated on page 185 of our book, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, breaks away from the classical tradition of rhetoric seeking “probable truth”. He says, “If truth is absolute, rhetoric does not determine it, it only helps discover it....

Sheila Sessoms SSS9440@uncwil.edu

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