Deliberative rhetoric (Greek: ''genos'' ''symbouleutikon;'' Latin: ''genus deliberativum,'' sometimes called legislative oratory) is one of the three kinds of

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

described by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

. Deliberative rhetoric juxtaposes potential future outcomes to communicate support or opposition for a given action or policy. In deliberative rhetoric, an argument is made using examples from the past to predict future outcomes in order to illustrate that a given policy or action will either be harmful or beneficial in the future. It differs from

deliberative democracy Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional ...

, which is a form of governmental discourse or institution that prioritizes public debate. In ''

Rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

'' (4th century BCE),

wrote that deliberative rhetoric is relevant in political debate since the "political orator is concerned with the future: it is about things to be done hereafter that he advises, for or against." According to Aristotle, political orators make an

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...

for a particular position on the grounds that the future results will be in the public's best interest. He wrote that a politician "aims at establishing the expediency or the harmfulness of a proposed course of action; if he urges its acceptance, he does so on the ground that it will do good; if he urges its rejection, he does so on the ground that it will do harm."{{citation, last=Aristotle, title=Rhetoric, translator-first=W. Rhys, translator-last=Roberts, url=http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.html, accessdate=September 24, 2016

References

Rhetoric