Part 1: Speech

To understand rhetoric as “speech” can mean many things. In most historically distant cases, rhetoric is an art of speech and political oratory; a series of proofs and techniques that prepares the speaker for any possible situation: past, present, or future. Understanding rhetoric as speech can be a way to set it apart from other, related terms, like argument. If arguments refer to the logical form and presentation of claims and evidence, then speeches demand a different rhetorical skill sets like attentiveness to an audience, faculties (abilities) of observation, and adaptability to the particular contexts where speech is called for. Often, students first encounter rhetoric as an art of speaking in their public speaking courses, where rhetorical terms and concepts are aligned with techniques of speaking well on specific topics or under specific circumstances. Such rhetoric can be informative, persuasive, and ceremonial; it can be spoken and written; it can make sense of series of urgent problems in ways that allow audiences to reckon with a difficult set of circumstances.