Aristotle’s anti-populist Art of Rhetoric defending the rule of law through benign manipulation Daniel DiLeo

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DiLeo, Daniel R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristotle. Rhetoric.

Aristotle.

Populism.

Rhetoric (Aristotle).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New York Bloomsbury Academic 2026

Summary:

"Daniel DiLeo identifies Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric as a means of preserving the lawful systems of rule that make the inculcation of human excellence possible. This entails resistance to what he perceived as the lawlessness of regime-destabilizing extreme democracy and of what we experience today as populism. Since they both arise through the effectiveness of demagogic rhetoric, Aristotle arms those opposed to it with their own effective, but potentially benign art of rhetoric. DiLeo demonstrates that Aristotle’s assessment of the wisdom of actual multitudes was quite negative. He challenges recent scholarship attributing inherent tendencies to yield politically prudent outcomes to the practice of Aristotle’s rhetorical art, absent any guidance by speakers of superior political prudence. He then shows how Aristotle’s principal rhetorical tactics, maxims, metaphors, and topics are instruments of manipulation. Daniel DiLeo then notes how Aristotle shifted longings of elites away from honors allocated by the many to a concern for the human good and argues that even if Martin Luther King, Jr. privately and plausibly believed the heroes of the Bible were in fact “otherworldly,” and doubted that America’s founders strove for what is just by nature, his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was nevertheless supremely benign"-- Bloomsbury Collections

Contents:

Definitions : Extreme democracy, populism, and manipulation

The context of recent readings of The Rhetoric

Aristotle’s perception of the political context of his Art of Rhetoric

The theoretical context of Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric

Manipulative maxims

Unequal metaphors

Instrumental topics

Liberating the best from the rest

Responding to populism

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from home page (Bloomsbury Collections, viewed August 21, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version DiLeo, Daniel R. Aristotle’s anti-populist art of rhetoric

ISBN:

9798216254799

9798216199250

9781978771208

1978771207

OCLC:

1597385797

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license