COMM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Spurious Relationship, Ice Cream, Quintilian
29 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Public speaking and advocacy were essential skills in ancient greece. The adversary system was invented as a means of settling disputes without violence. A third party would serve as a judge and both sides would make arguments of their cases. Athens is considered by many to be the birthplace of democracy. The sophists were the earliest teachers of public speaking in ancient greece. They mostly taught public speaking but also did some writing. The most influential of the sophists was isocrates. His text were the best preserved and his teaching influences aristotle, cicero, and quintilian. The sophists challenged the belief that life was predetermined by the gods and advocated for the belief of free will. They argued that the way to find truth was through debate. Although sophist is the basis for the word sophisticated, today the term sophist is a word used with derision. The negative reputation of the sophists today has two causes.
