Aristotle Rhetorical Analysis

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Plato, Aristotle, and Galen are widely regarded as three of the most influential teachers across time. When an idea is presented to us, it is typically easy to direct the thought to one of these three creators. Aristotle, despite being a student of Plato’s, is known for rejecting Plato’s ideals and contributing to logic and rhetoric. Plato is regarded as the father of philosophy, and was the founder of the first Western university. He placed emphasis on moral high ground and self-control. Galen was a Greek physician who lived in the Roman Empire, and was the personal physician of Mark Aurelius. His theories dictated medical thought and practice for years. In this paper, we will dive further into the major works belonging to them, and differentiate …show more content…
Though Plato educated Aristotle for many years, Aristotle became one of his greatest critics. We can see some of this through two of the writing pieces we studied, Rhetoric and Plato Complete Works. Throughout Rhetoric, many of Aristotle’s feelings and ideals are highlighted in the description of rhetoric. His dissection of this topic leads him to instruct people on the mastery of persuasion. This begins with establishing authority on the subject matter (ethos), stirring audience emotions (pathos), and ending with a logical argument to support the point being made (logos). To me, this seems like Aristotle is steering away from the whole subject of philosophy. His arguments seem logic based and educated rather than the hypotheticals that I feel philosophy is centered around. I see philosophy as a focus on worldly explanations and possibilities, whereas these structured arguments made by Aristotle are for in the moment thoughts or actions. Although Aristotle does involve philosophy, it is not in the same regard that I feel Plato …show more content…
I understand Galen’s teachings to be more philosophical, aligning with Plato’s way of describing differences or interactions. Plato’s story Sisyphus highlights this way of rationalizing. We must recall that this short story is simply a conversation between Socrates and Sisyphus on the definition of deliberation. Where Sisyphus says deliberation allows one to pick the best course of action, Socrates asks why this is different than simply guessing what way would be best. In the end, it is decided that since an individual cannot know what will happen in the future, someone cannot be labeled as a good or bad deliberator because anything can happen. To me, this was applicable to how Galen’s ideas were seen by society, as people could not say that he was wrong since no one knew what may or may not happen. Looking at it now, I would call Galen a bad deliberator because we know that different types of food are not the sole influence on someone’s health, and eating a food cannot cure all disease. However Plato is correct, the people of Galen’s age did not know the future and his ideas could have ended up being entirely
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