Re: Rhetoric And Technical Writing?

["Edwin Skau" <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Rhetoric is to writing what algorithms are to programming.

We have problems understanding the terms "argumentation" and "persuasion"
due to cultural rhetorical sediments that have narrowed those terms to
almost exclusively mean "quarrelling" and  "arm-twisting". The smilarity of
the second word to pursue, somehow seems to trigger images of hounding
someone and using thumbscrews to squeeze out an agreement or reluctant
concession.

The wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric

As far as I know, the term "rhetoric" dates back to Aristotle's work on the
subject. Here's a link
to Aristotle's Rhetoric :
http://www2.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html

Here's a link to a list of rhetorical devices:
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm

Hope this helps.

Edwin
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