Wisdom versus Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; it predates what we call Ancient Greek philosophy. In fact, Socrates’ dialectic and the writings of Plato arose as a response to rhetoric.

The Sophists, the pre-Socratics, were rhetoricians; they were also the first professors as they were paid to educate the youth on the art of rhetoric.

In Athens, politics played a major role for every citizen. Your success in politics was dependent on your ability to persuade an audience to your idea or to discredit your opponent’s idea. The Sophists didn’t teach specific values or principles; they taught you how to win an argument—regardless of which side of the argument you were on.

Successful Sophists of Ancient Greece like Anaxagoras, Protagoras, and Gorgias found fame and fortune; the same is true of today’s Sophists, now called Postmodernists. (I’ll refrain from listing any as to not seem critical or contentious.)

I find it helpful to contrast the Philosopher with the Sophist. The Philosopher intuits higher truths, having faith in a set of Absolutes from which life itself is based, even if these truths cannot be proven.

The Sophist believes that ALL truth is relative, that it changes all the time and is different for each person. To the Sophist, there are no absolutes about anything.

From a spiritual context, it seems appropriate to relate the Philosopher to Spirit, and the Sophist to Ego. Aligned to Spirit, the Philosopher intuits truths beyond the grasp of his rational mind. Aligned to Ego, the Sophist simply wants to be right, or to win above all else.

Modern politics is built on rhetoric, as everything said by a politician is calculated, designed to elicit an expected response. A statesmen like Winston Churchill, in contrast, possesses guiding principles and does what he believes to be right regardless of public opinion.

Rhetoric is fundamental to other professions like marketing, which is a discipline centered on influencing others on the sale of a product, service, or idea.

If you want to build a mass following—for anything, really—then rhetoric is a valuable tool. Blogging, in particular, has made the proliferation of rhetoric easier than ever before, allowing bloggers to find masses of followers to persuade and sell their ideas.

Discerning Truth from Rhetoric

As we increase our awareness of the world and ourselves, discerning rhetoric from truth becomes a vital skill. We must be able to determine when someone is trying to persuade us versus when they are providing us with meaningful information. In the modern world, this discernment seems more difficult than ever before.

Notice that the content of rhetoric is constantly changing based on prevailing beliefs and memes of the culture in a given period. Rhetoric is often provocative and engaging, artfully finding ways to “hook” the ego, eliciting specific emotional responses. You need look no further than any film Michael Moore creates to see illustrations of the art of persuasion, spinning ideas in favor of a position. (Oops, I guess I named a modern Sophist after all.)

Wisdom, in contrast, is based on principles, and principles are timeless. Wisdom and truth are not provocative or sexy. Truth doesn’t command attention and often isn’t popular since the media can’t “sell it” as easily as it can sell rhetoric.

I believe one of the best ways to learn how to distinguish between rhetoric and truth is by studying Plato’s work, as he was the original defender of truth in the face of rhetoric. But at the very least, we must come to question everything we hear and see, acknowledging that we’re more often coming in contact with rhetoric than with truth.

Then, with an awareness of our innate innocence and naiveté, we can successfully wade through an ocean of rhetoric to discover islands of wisdom and truth.

Related posts:

1. From Knowledge to Wisdom