Neo-Aristotelian Rhetoric Summary

Throughout this article I will be analyzing the rhetor Eric Thomas and his speech, How Bad Do You Want It through the Neo-Aristotelian Criticism. The Neo-Aristotelian Criticism style is a style that focuses on analyzing the style and manner of the speeches ability to deliver an idea to its intended audience. This criticism style focuses mainly on the rhetor, otherwise the speaker, and analyzes the entire speech in the qualities of; the emotional and physical qualities of the speaker, the audience, the major ideas, the reasoning for the speech, the credibility of the speaker, the organization of information presented, the quality of the presentation of information, the delivery, and the overall effect it had on the audience. Neo-Aristotelian Criticism has
Mohrmann and Michael C. Leff’s. G.P. Mohrmann and Michael C. Leff evaluate the Neo-Aristotelian style by stating, “The importance of this principle can scarcely be exaggerated; without it, modern speech criticism would not have been possible.”(464) They go on to explain that without this style speechmaking wouldn’t be as exceptional today and would be much like ancient rhetoric. They say, “The problem in the traditional system appears to be an omission rather than an inherent defect the genre and remain consistent with Aristotelian principles. Finding Rosenthal’s analysis of ethos suggestive, we approached the campaign oration as an instance of “personal persuasion.”(464) Where the crowd and audience act more or less like a judge of future events similar to that of an election. The speaker must be prepared to embrace the crowd while giving their speech. G.P. Mohrmann and Michael C. Leff compare a variety of speech analyzation styles throughout their article however coming to an ultimate conclusion of the ability to critique comes strictly from the critic