My reflection upon Chapter 1 of a half-history half-english book that we use in a college writing course

A Bust of Aspasia of Miletus

Do you know who this woman is? In case you were previously unaware this is Aspasia of Miletus. Also known as the foreign woman that intrigued and changed the Athenian mindset on foreigners rights and role in society. I was extremely interested to learn about Aspasia's role in introducing the concept of rhetoric to the Athenian public. She took the the world of rhetoric by storm when, upon her rival in Athens, Greece she opened a school that was focused primarily on women's education. This a concept that back then, and to the disparage of many today still continues to be a very unheard of and taboo subject. In particular she talked about the differences in "giving rhetoric" which was using language to give internal human qualities such as values, sense of honor, meaning in life, internal elements of noble identity a realisation in the real world. Much like explaining someones values or their sense of honour to someone else may change their view on something, so was the purpose of using the rhetoric of giving, or in essence, philosophy. On the other hand, Aspasia also talked about the rhetoric of "getting" which was using language to get external objects such as landholdings, slaves, wealth, things to enhance personal appearance and external appearance of identity. So this was in modern terms the language of persuasion. This was in essence a woman who started out as a second class citizen and rose in power through feminine charm as well as pure brilliance through the ranks until she died an Athenian citizen. Her ideas about rhetoric can still be noticed today when reading or listening to different news stations. For instance when listening to Fox News many reporters use the rhetoric of getting when describing events and how this affects a class of people or the reporters directly. I find the rhetoric of giving more often used on radio stations such as NPR where they don't talk about how they or a class of people are affected by a certain event but go into the more philosophical causation and effects of a particular event. As it is clear to see we here in the modern world owe a lot to, that's right, a woman who lived during the 5th century in Greece for teaching us all about the use of language and how language is not only an identifier of nationality or identity but a tool that can be used in everyday life to give knowledge or to get what one wants.