rhetoric

Classical Rhetoric 101: Logical Fallacies

by Brett & Kate McKay

I hope you’ve enjoyed our series on classical rhetoric. Today, for our final entry in the series, we will be discussing logical fallacies. This is a pretty important topic. Much of our debating has moved out of the public square and onto the internet. And if you spend anytime reading those online debates, you’ve probably [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Five Canons of Rhetoric – Delivery

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our series on Classical Rhetoric. Today we’re continuing our five-part segment on the Five Canons of Rhetoric. So far we’ve covered the canons of invention, arrangement, style, and memory. Today we’ll be covering the last canon: delivery. What Is Delivery? Like the canon of style, the canon of delivery is concerned with how something is said. While [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Five Canons of Rhetoric – Memory

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our series on Classical Rhetoric. Today we’re continuing our five-part segment on the Five Canons of Rhetoric. So far we’ve covered the canons of invention, arrangement, and style. Today we’ll be covering the canon of memory. The Three Elements of the Canon of Memory 1. Memorizing one’s speech. Anciently, almost all rhetorical communication was done [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Five Canons of Rhetoric – Style

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our series on Classical Rhetoric. Today we’re continuing our five-part segment on the Five Canons of Rhetoric. So far we’ve covered the canons of invention and arrangement. As a quick review, the canon of invention is about brainstorming ideas for your speech or writing, and arrangement is about organizing your speech or [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Five Canons of Rhetoric – Arrangement

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our series on Classical Rhetoric. Today we’re continuing our five-part segment on the Five Canons of Rhetoric. Last time we discussed invention, which is essentially brainstorming and planning your speech or writing. In this installment, we’ll be exploring the canon of arrangement. Let’s get started. What Is Arrangement? Arrangement is simply the [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Five Canons of Rhetoric – Invention

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our series on Classical Rhetoric. Today we’re kicking off a five-part segment on the Five Canons of Rhetoric. As you remember from our brief introduction to classical rhetoric, the Five Canons of Rhetoric constitute a system and guide on crafting powerful speeches and writing. It’s also a template by which to judge [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: The Three Means of Persuasion

by Brett & Kate McKay

Welcome back to our ongoing series on classical rhetoric. Today we’ll cover the three means of persuasion as set forth by Aristotle in The Art of Rhetoric. According to Aristotle, a speaker or writer has three ways to persuade his audience: Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: A Brief History

by Brett & Kate McKay

This is the second in a series on classical rhetoric. In this post, we lay the foundation of our study of rhetoric by taking a look at its history. While this post is in no way a comprehensive history of rhetoric, it should give you enough background information to understand the context of the principles we’ll [...]

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Classical Rhetoric 101: An Introduction

by Brett & Kate McKay

As many of you know, I read a lot of biographies on the lives of great men from history. The part of a man’s life I enjoy learning about the most is their education. What books did they read as young men that influenced them later on in life? Where did they travel? What classes [...]

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The 35 Greatest Speeches in History

by Brett & Kate McKay

If a man wishes to become a great orator, he must first become a student of the great orators who have come before him. He must immerse himself in their texts, listening for the turns of phrases and textual symmetries, the pauses and crescendos, the metaphors and melodies that have enabled the greatest speeches to [...]

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