ABSTRACT
Any effort to understand Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric must begin with its place within his philosophy. For rhetoric functions as a method of communication, spoken or written, between people as they seek to determine truth or fallacy in real situations. In the cultural context of the Platonic and Isocratean tradition it would have been difficult for Aristotle to dismiss rhetoric as a serious discipline. No one challenges the fact that Aristotle is attempting a scientific analysis of rhetoric similar to the effort of Plato in the Phaedrus. A study of the introduction reveals that Aristotle in rather rapid shorthand sets down what he considers to be the critical elements of the art. Each of his statements implicates the concurring presence of intellect, ethos and pathos in the use of the art. Rhetoric incorporated as integral components reason, ethos and pathos and addressed itself to the whole man.
