ABSTRACT
The Greek rhetorician Isocrates is the earliest historical figure studied in this book. In his essays and correspondence we find, arguably, Western civilization’s first sustained discussion of seminal topics that now characterize public relations. For Isocrates, civic rhetoric is not an Aristotelian amoral instrument in the service of whoever chooses to wield it; it is not the “mere rhetoric”. Rather, the purpose of rhetoric is to advance the values of justice, moderation, and dissent in the service of social harmony. For Isocrates, rhetoric is the discourse of responsible citizenship and is built upon the primary values of justice and moderation. Modern critics agree that Isocrates, not Plato or Aristotle, inspired the central rhetorical theorists of classical Rome. Western civilization’s most successful rhetoric advocated social unity, which was to be built by the sincere advocacy of justice and moderation and the protection of dissent.
