what is rhetoric?

As said actions speak louder than words. In our daily lives we perform many actions that are symbolic. Many times we use actions instead of words to convey a message. In an article The Nature of Rhetorical Criticism by Foss J. Sanja he defines Rhetoric as the human use of symbols to communicate. In the article Foss gives an example of a rhetoric situation, "When the United States deploys an aircraft carrier off the coast of North Korea to warn its government not to continue with the development of nuclear weapons, the United States has performed a rhetorical action that is designed to be read symbolically by both sides" and there is no doubt about the meaning of the message". In this quote I believe by sending an aircraft off to the coast of North Korea was an act that symbolizes America's in power over North Korea. In another case "If the United States reconnaissance plane accidentally strays over North Korea without the purpose of communicating anything to North Korea, however, the pilot is not engaged in rhetorical action. in this case, however, the North Koreans can choose to interpret the event symbolically and take retaliatory action against the United States". As we can see from this that human symbolizes things even if its not intended to be symbols. Foss also mentions "speaking and writing make up only a small part of our rhetorical environment. Rhetoric, then, includes nondiscursive or nonverbal symbols as well as discursive or verbal ones". Foss goes on to talk about rhetorical critism which is " a qualitative research method that is designed for the systematic investigation and explanation of symbolic acts and artifacts for the purpose of understanding rhetorical processes. I believe using rhetoric to communicate with one another is the best way for us humans to understand each other. For example if one day I come home from school and I slam the door and throw my bag on the floor. My mom knows right away that I had a bad day. She will just let me be alone for a while until I calm down. This is just one example of how we use rhetoric in our everday lives.

Rhetoric is the art of using language as a means to persuade. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively, using the principles and rules of composition drawn from classical traditions, typically tied to the art of persuasion. Classical rhetoricians were interested in dividing rhetoric into its component parts. ...cac.ophony.org/2007/08/08/wacwid-terminology-parts-ii-iii/