“Rhetoric is a talent or a study of great (effective, beautiful) speech,” said Heinrich F. Plett, an authority in the field of rhetoric. In Chinese, rhetoric means the study of using language effectively and beautifully by grinding and cultivating it. Recently, rhetoric has been enlarging its importance in our society. Here is a more deep and detailed story about rhetoric told by Professor Yeong-Houn Yi, Research Planning Director of Korea University (KU) Institute for the Study of Rhetoric (ISR).

<About the study of rhetoric>

What is Rhetoric?

Professor Yeong-Houn Yi, Research Planning Director of KU ISR.

In short, rhetoric refers to a theory about persuasion and communication, and a series of skills related to it.

Where did Rhetoric come from?
The history of the study of rhetoric in the West dates back to 2500 years ago. In B.C. 5th century, rhetoric first appeared as three major forms in Greece. The first was a self-representation skill in the court. Since there were no lawyers, Greek people had to argue for themselves in court. Sophist, most of whom were rhetoricians, would educate people how to speak well. The second form of rhetoric was political speech. Being democratic, Greek politicians were needed to speak and persuade the public effectively. The last of the three forms was rhetoric as literature. This means attracting and moving people by using prose, rather than verse. These three forms of rhetoric are still maintained today.

Rhetoric in Korea
Nowadays, as we see President Roh Moo-hyun’s public speech, rhetoric has developed in the political or literary arena. On the contrary, rhetoric in Korean courts has not yet been developed well unlike the United States, where lawyers and prosecutors have to persuade a jury. The United States is the strongest nation of rhetoric, universities and colleges have major course for rhetoric. In Korea, however, there is no specific major course concerning rhetoric.

Why is rhetoric needed?
There are two basic reasons why we need rhetoric: First, humans naturally don’t tend to give all of their attention to other people. Second, even when they listen to what others saying, they often try to judge and estimate it, instead of accepting it straightforwardly. They usually think, “What is the hidden original intention of the speech?” To help us change these kinds of attitudes and make other people bend their ear to us, we need rhetoric. Briefly, rhetoric helps us find a solution with which the majority can be satisfied.

What has made rhetoric become so popular recently?
Rhetoric has a lot to do with public democracy. As human or social relationships changed from vertical to horizontal after the late 1990s, which meant that people became equal regardless of their gender or social class, communication has become very important. Also, thanks to the spread of the Internet, people are able to say whatever they want through the Internet, which is now performing the same role as the public squares of Greece where people could make a speech several hundred years ago. Because of people’s freedom of speech, rhetoric is considered an important means of communication.

<About Professor Yi and ISR>

How could the institute be founded?
In 2000, many professors from KU, Seoul National University, Ewha Women’s University, etc. made an association for studying rhetoric. They gathered once a month to study.
In 2003, Rhetoric Society of Korea was founded. Its leading members were KU professors. “In the Rhetoric Society of Korea, we usually did scientific research and the study of rhetoric could be done more systematically,” said Professor Yeoung-Hoon Yi. “As we studied on, however, we found that rhetoric can be applied to the society. Then we made a new start and created the Institute for the Study of Rhetoric. In the ISR, we do more society-friendly and applicable work.”

What areas of study does rhetoric have?
The most widely used area is medical rhetoric. As the public began to play a more and more significant role in the medical society, communication between people (between doctor and nurse, or between doctor and patient) became more important. As medical communication is gradually studied more, the Korean Health Communication Society (KHCS) was founded at KU last year.

As well as medical rhetoric, rhetoric of humanities is widely used and studied. Rhetoric can play a decisive role in humanities because the two studies are both closely related to language. “Last year, the crisis of humanities was declared,” said Professor Yi. “I think this was caused by a lack of communication between studies, scholars and society. For example, papers written by scholars should be in question because it is too confined behind an ivory tower to be read by the public. The only way to solve this problem is rhetoric, which can make communication possible,” he added.

Also, recently rhetoric is often used in business and politics. Especially, the political rhetoric used by kings and presidents has been studied recently. The relationship between the leadership of the ruler and rhetoric was researched last year.

What recent studies has ISR done?
We have been holding a scientific lecture every month regarding various themes related to rhetoric. Many professors from various universities in Korea have given and will make great lecture. In addition, we hold a Debate Competition for university students.

Is there any reason why the rhetoric has religious character as we see in the movie The Da Vinci Code?The originators of the church such as Saint Paul were educated with rhetoric. Thus, they insisted that a preacher should be aware of rhetoric. Also, religion and rhetoric are closely related to each other, because rhetoric is helpful in reading and interpreting the whole bible or a phrase in it. The study of rhetoric can help people know not only how to make and use language, but also, conversely, how to analyze a written or spoken language.

Please recommend some guide books for students interested in rhetoric.
Professor Yi recommends La Rhetorique, written by Olivier Reboul and published by Hangilsa, and The Rhetoric, written by Park Sungchang and published by Moonji. Also, he recommends Partitiones oratoriae by Cicero for students who are studying rhetoric. In addition, for students majoring in humanities, Rhetoric in Humanities published by KU will be helpful.

How to do effective communication? How to persuade effectively?
The most important and fundamental thing in communicating with others is totally concentrating on what they are saying. Before we speak our own story, we should listen to them carefully and grasp the point of it. To have smooth communication, we should put ourselves in their shoes.

Similarly, listening carefully is also important for persuading others. It should not be a one-sided speech and we have to fully understand our counterparts and persuade them. The other person will listen to me if I speak unilaterally? Absolutely not!

Last word of Prof. Yi
Let’s be more interested in communication! In universities, people who speak well are popular among their peers these days. However, it will be even better to be able to have a mutual understanding with each other, rather than to speak alone. We always have to communicate with others in society.