The Ethics of Rhetoric

Weaver argues that rhetoric is never neutral, it is either an instrument of virtue or a tool of exploitation. Every act of persuasion carries ethical weight, lifting human thought toward the good or dragging it toward manipulation. This 1953 masterpiece, written as a defense of the humanities against the advancing forces of science and sociology, centers on Plato's Phaedrus to ask a question that still haunts us: can language ever be innocent? Weaver's answer is uncompromising. The book moves from rigorous interpretation of Plato to piercing critiques of modern sociological thought, from analyses of Lincoln's rhetorical power to examinations of Burke and Milton. The Scopes Trial becomes a case study in how discourse shapes, and distorts, culture. These essays represent Weaver's final, urgent attempt to restore rhetoric to its proper place as an ethical discipline. For readers who suspect that words matter enormously, and that the person who controls the language controls the conversation, this book remains indispensable.