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