SOURCE: "The Outmoded Psychology of Aristotle's Rhetoric," in Western Journal of Speech Communication, Vol. 54, No. 2, 1990, pp. 204-18.

In the following essay, Brinton examines the canonical status of Rhetoric, defending it against those who would reject the text as dated due to the "emergence of the social-scientific study of communication in the twentieth century." Brinton argues that the psychological conceptions found in Rhetoric are, unlike some psychological theories, "not the kind which perish …" and that the text remains relevant to students of rhetorical theory.

However rhetoric ought to be defined, the great rhetorics of the past have, whatever their defects, at least some claim to the name. They may also deserve respect as relics of the past. But how importantly, if at all, ought they to figure in the education of students of rhetorical theory? And to what extent, if any, is it appropriate for contemporary rhetorical theorists to...