Rhetorical criticism

Rhetorical criticism analyzes the symbolic artifacts of discourse — the words, phrases, images, gestures, performances, texts, films, etc. that people use to communicate. Rhetorical analysis shows how the artifacts work, how well they work, and how the artifacts, as discourse, inform and instruct, entertain and arouse, and convince and persuade the audience; as such, discourse includes the possibility of morally improving the reader, the viewer, and the listener. Rhetorical criticism studies and analyzes the purpose of the words, sights, and sounds that are the symbolic artifacts used for communications among people.

The arts of Rhetorical criticism are an intellectual practice that dates from the time of Plato, in Classical Greece (5th–4th c. BC). Moreover, in the dialogue Phaedrus (ca. 370 BC), the philosopher Socrates analyzes a speech by Lysias (230e–235e) the logographer (speech writer) to determine whether or not it is praiseworthy.

Criticism is an art, not a science. It is not a scientific method; it uses subjective methods of argument; it exists on its own, not in conjunction with other methods of generating knowledge (i.e., social scientific or scientific).

The academic purpose of Rhetorical criticism is greater understanding and appreciation in human relations:

By improving understanding and appreciation, the critic can offer new, and potentially exciting, ways for others to see the world. Through understanding we also produce knowledge about human communication; in theory, this should help us to better govern our interactions with others.

What is called "rhetorical criticism" in the Speech Communication discipline is often called "rhetorical analysis" in English. Through this analytical process, an analyst defines, classifies, analyzes, interprets and evaluates a rhetorical artifact. Through this process a critic explores, by means of various approaches, the manifest and latent meaning of a piece of rhetoric thereby offering further insight into the field of rhetorical studies generally and into an artifact or rhetor specifically. Such an analysis, for example may reveal the particular motivations or ideologies of a rhetor, how he or she interprets the aspects of a rhetorical situation, or how cultural ideologies are manifested in an artifact. It could also demonstrate how the constraints of a particular situation shape the rhetoric that responds to it. Certain approaches also examine how rhetorical elements compare with the traditional elements of a narrative or drama.

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