On Michael Naas

Pragmatics & Cognition, 2005

This paper presents a model of persuasion in terms of goals and beliefs. Among the various ways to influence people, that is, to raise or lower the likelihood for them to pursue some goal, ranging from threat to suggestion, persuasion is viewed as a case of communicative non-coercive goal hooking. A persuader leads a persuadee to pursue some goal out of a free choice, i.e., by convincing him/her that the proposed goal is useful for some other goal that the persuadee already has. It is argued that the Aristotelian persuasive strategies oflogos,ethosandpathos(rational argumentation, the speaker’s credibility and reliability, and the appeal to emotion) are always present in every persuasive discourse, and that they are exploited to raise the value of the goal proposed and to strengthen the believability of the link between it and the persuadee’s previous goals. The paper proposes an analysis of discourse in terms of a hierarchy of goals as a tool to single out these strategies within t...

In James Stanlaw (ed) The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell. , 2021

The term "persuasion" (derived from the Latin persuāsiō) is commonly used to denote a form of goal-oriented and audience-targeted use of language. While classical definitions tend to associate it with public speaking, persuasion can be pursued in a variety of social settings, through multiple discursive genres, channels (oral, written, nonverbal) and modalities (auditory, visual, tactile, etc.). Achieving persuasiveness requires the effective use of language and other semiotic resources (sounds, images, objects) with the aim of inducing specific attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in the target audience. While in certain domains of sociocultural life (e.g. courtship, politics, and advertising) persuasion is self-consciously deployed and discussed, the use of language to further an argument, form opinions, and influence behavior can be observed in a wide array of discursive and social settings, ranging from face-to-face interactions to digital platforms, from written scientific discourse to everyday conversation, from mass communication to the architectural organization of urban spaces and museum displays. Because the term is broad in scope and application, any attempt at defining it involves a metapragmatic endeavor (i.e. using language to reflexively discuss how language is used). Linguistic anthropologists and scholars working in related disciplines have contributed to this undertaking by highlighting how understanding what counts as persuasive communication in specific cultural and historical contexts always requires an ethnographic exploration of complex constellations of aesthetic, epistemological, and moral notions. Thus, far from being a clear-cut notion, persuasion is a layered metapragmatic construct, embedded in culturally and historically specific theories of mind, action, and intention, and connected to local ideologies of language and meaning. In Greek mythology, persuasion was personified as the goddess Peitho-a name related to the verb peíthein, meaning "to persuade" and "to inspire trust," and etymolog-ically related to the Latin fides ("faith"). Significantly, Peitho was associated both to the realm of erotic seduction (as denoted by her frequent depiction alongside Aphrodite) and to the civic sphere of rhetorical persuasion. In the Greco-Roman tradition, persuasion was the object of rhetoric, understood both as the practice of persuasive argumentation and as the study of the compositional structure of effective public speaking. The former approach, generally called rhetorica utens and primarily embraced by Isocrates, Cicero, and Quintilian, emphasized the technical-performative-prescriptive side of persuasive communication, and dictated the practical imperatives to gain assent by appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos-terms employed in Aristotle's Rhetoric to refer to the three main means of persuasion: the character of the speaker, the emotions of the listener, and the reasons of the argument itself. The latter approach, called rhetorica docens and generally associated with the Aristotelian school (and with the twentieth-century New Rhetoric of Kenneth Burke and Chaim Perelman), The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Edited by James M. Stanlaw.

2019

Logic, Rhetoric and Argumentation Theory are more or less distinct attempts to approach the riddle of persuasion: what makes our reason tick? I briefly explain the controversy between these three competing views and offer some comments upon its possible resolution. Since all forms of communication are performed on the spectrum between manipulation and the non-manipulative offering of contents, this controversy should interest all those who are intrigued by the miraculous possibility of human communication in the first place.

FLSF, 2019

An investigation of the dialogue form is vital for understanding Plato's philosophical arguments. Recent studies related to the dialogical aspects of Plato's writings have underlined the significance of dramatis personae and their role in defining the philosophical content. This paper examines the roles played by Socrates and Protagoras in Plato's Protagoras to inspire a theory of disagreements. This study concludes that the way in which Socrates and Protagoras examine the nature of virtue offers some norms of the correct philosophical argument, such as careful checking and philosophical humility. These norms are necessary for dissolving disagreements and completing a philosophical investigation. The findings can contribute to a better grasp of Plato's metaphilosophical thoughts on agreement and epistemic development.

Polis: The Journal for Greek Political Thought, Vol. 23/1 (2006)

According to Plato and Aristotle, the confusion of sophistry and philosophy in the opinion of Socrates' fellow citizens in Athens ultimately led to his trial and execution. This essay seeks to highlight and clarify the resemblance and the fundamental distinction between sophistry and philosophy, especially with respect to the art of rhetoric articulated by Gorgias in his Encomium of Helen and interrogated by Socrates in Plato's Gorgias. Rivals in their use of persuasive speeches, Gorgias and Socrates embody the quarrel between two competing modes of discourse and the ways of life that ineluctably result from their practice. Their public dispute centres on the aim or purpose of an art of rhetoric. This essay argues that Gorgias, though moved to silence by his conversation with Socrates in Plato's dialogue, disclosed to his inquisitor the true power of rhetoric, and thus the necessity to constrain rather than reject its use.

The Ethics of Persuasion: Derrida's Rhetorical Legacies, 2020

The Ethics of Persuasion challenges the traditional thinking that rhetoric is primarily a utilitarian art built on force and adorned with linguistic ornamentation. The book brings the thought of philosopher Jacques Derrida to a handful of foundational texts in the classical rhetorical tradition to demonstrate the surprising ethical priority of a discipline known for its focus on persuasion. And along the way, it demonstrates the significant rhetorical dimensions of deconstruction, reviving the case that Derrida has much to offer the field of rhetoric. Drawing on Derrida’s (non)definition of ethics and his pointed accounts of performativity, The Ethics of Persuasion argues that ancient theories, practices, and pedagogies of persuasion have a vital ethical component that has been under-theorized for more than two millennia. Through deconstructive readings of some of the rhetorical tradition’s most esteemed texts on persuasion—highly determined pieces by Gorgias, Lysias, Isocrates, and Plato—the book suggests that an ethics emerges from even the most forceful instances of persuasion, showing us that we are not simply sovereign beings who by turns wield and guard against linguistic techniques of rule. Our persuasive endeavors, rather, are made possible by an ethics—an encounter with otherness that interrupts self-presence.

ProQuest, 2023

This dissertation offers an interpretation of Plato’s Phaedrus that takes the motif of psychagôgia (soul-leading) as an interpretative key for understanding and unifying the dialogue. In the first part, I undertake a historical-philological investigation into psychagôgia in ancient Greece to grasp Plato’s appropriation and adaptation of this term from its original semantic-pragmatic context. In the second part, I examine the Phaedrus through the prism of psychagogy across three interdependent structural domains: content, form, and function. I argue that psychagogy must be comprehended as a complex subject that necessarily involves understanding the nature of the soul, the motivating drive of love, the power of speech, and the aspirations of philosophy for truth, virtue, and knowledge. In terms of form, psychagogy explains the dramatic action of the characters within the dialogue, from Phaedrus’ encounter with Socrates after his captivation by an epideictic speech by Lysias to their lively dialectical discussion. As for function, psychagogy illuminates the purpose of the Phaedrus as a written work of philosophy against its historical background, simply put, to lead the reader’s soul to the philosophical form of life. In summary, psychagogy is what the Phaedrus is about; it is exhibited in its dramatic narrative, and it is what the dialogue intends to accomplish.

Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought, 2007

There is a greater use of the language of persuasion in Plato's Laws than there is in the Republic. Christopher Bobonich has recently offered powerful arguments (against the claims of Popper, Morrow and others) for the view that this difference is a sign that the Laws is less authoritarian than the Republic, and that Plato in the Laws is more concerned with the freedom of the individual. In the present paper, it is demonstrated that this interpretation of the Laws cannot account for what Plato says in Book 10 (which discusses the nature of the gods, and impiety). This article first examines four passages from Laws 10 that reveal a different picture than the one Bobonich champions, and then argues that the context for Plato's statements on persuasionthe political philosophy of the Laws generally -actually makes genuine rational persuasion impossible, whatever Plato actually says about its nature and value.

2008