• rhetorical devices (rhetoric): expressive stylistic locutions which are historically evolved means of organising a sentence and which utilise chiefly the emotional and imperative qualities of speech; an obsolete term for figures of speech; in a narrow sense, the term applies to three figures of speech: (1.) rhetorical exclamation, (2.) rhetorical appeal, and (3.) rhetorical question (a statement in the form of a question). ~ (The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd Edition; 1970-1979).

• rhetorical devices (n.): (in rhetoric): a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device, is a technique which an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a particular perspective, using language designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action. Rhetorical devices evoke an emotional response in the audience through use of language, but this is not their primary purpose. Rather, by doing so, they seek to make a position or argument more compelling than it would otherwise be. Originating from Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”, the four modes of persuasion in an argument—logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos⁽⁰¹⁾—are as follows; (1.) logos: an appeal to logic using intellectual reasoning and argument structure such as giving sound reasoning for claims and supplying supporting evidence; (2.) pathos: an appeal to the audience’s emotions, often based on values they hold. By influencing their feelings, the audience can be pushed to take an action, believe an argument, or respond in a certain way; (3.) ethos: an appeal based on the good character of the author; it involves persuading the audience how the author is credible and well-qualified, or possesses other desirable qualities which mean the author’s arguments carry weight; (4.) kairos: an appeal to timing, such as whether the argument occurs at the right time and in the ideal surrounding context to be accepted; it has been argued to be the most important since no matter how logical, emotionally powerful and credible the argument, if the argument is made in an unsuitable context or environment, the audience will not be receptive to it⁽⁰²⁾. Rhetorical devices can be used to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of the use of rhetoric in any of the four above modes of persuasion. Rather than certain rhetorical devices falling under certain modes of persuasion, rhetorical devices are techniques which authors, writers or speakers use to execute rhetorical appeals. Thus, they overlap with figures of speech, differing insofar as they are used specifically for persuasive purposes, and may involve how authors introduce and arrange arguments in addition to creative use of language. ~ (2012 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

⁽⁰¹⁾kairos (n.; pl. kairoi): a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action; the opportune and decisive moment. [etymology: Greek, ‘fitness’, ‘opportunity’, ‘time’; ‘critical time’; perhaps akin to Greek keirein, ‘to cut’]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

⁽⁰²⁾The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos (καιρός). The former refers to chronological or sequential time, while the latter signifies a proper or opportune time for action. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature. The plural, kairoi (καιροί), means ‘the times’, and kairos also means ‘weather’ in Modern Greek. It is a term, idea, and practice which has been applied in several fields including classical rhetoric, Christian theology, modern rhetoric, digital media, and science. In rhetoric, kairos is “a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved”. (from “Kaironomia: On the Will-to-Invent”, by Eric Charles White; 1983, University of California, Berkeley; page 3). Kairos was central to the Sophists, who stressed the ability of the rhetor (orator) to adapt to, and take advantage of, changing and/or contingent circumstances. The Athenian orator, and influential teacher of rhetoric, Isocrates (BCE 436-338) writes, in “Panathenaicus”, that educated people are those “who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a judgment which is accurate in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient course of action”. (...). In his “Rhetoric”, one of the ways which Aristotle uses the idea of kairos is in reference to the specificity of each rhetorical situation. He believed that each rhetorical situation was different, and therefore different rhetorical devices needed to be applied at that point in time. One of the most well known parts of his “Rhetoric” is when he discusses the roles of pathos, ethos, and logos. He ties kairos to these concepts, claiming that there are times in each rhetorical situation when one needs to be utilised over the others. Ancient Pythagoreans thought Kairos to be one of the most fundamental laws of the universe inasmuch it was said to piece together the dualistic ways of the entire universe. Empedocles⁽⁰³⁾ was the philosopher who connected kairos to the principle of opposites and harmony. He held that the world is composed of four elements, air, water, fire, and earth, which are governed by the opposing forces of love and discord, or strife, and that all change is caused by attraction and repulsion. It then became the principle of conflict and resolution and was thus inserted as a concept for rhetoric. ~ (2012 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

⁽⁰³⁾Empedocles (BCE 495-435; Greek philosopher, born Acragas, present-day Agrigento Sicily): the leader of the democratic faction in his native city, he was offered the crown, which he refused. A turn in political fortunes drove him and his followers into exile. Empedocles taught that everything in existence is composed of four underived and indestructible roots, material particles identified as air, water, fire, and earth. He declared the atmosphere to be a corporeal substance, not a mere void; and in the absence of the void or empty space he explained motion as the interpenetration of particles, under the alternating action of two forces, harmony and discord (aka attraction and repulsion). Believing that motion, or change of place, is the only sort of change possible, he explained all apparent changes in quality or quantity as changes of position of the basic particles underlying the observable object. He was thereby the first to state a principle that is now central to physics. ~ (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia).

⁽⁰³⁾Empedocles of Acragas (Agrigento); born circa 490; died circa 430 BCE; Greek philosopher, physician, and political figure; head of the democrats’ party): Empedocles devoted considerable attention to questions of anatomy and physiology, as exemplified by his description of the breathing process; his theory of “pores” and “effluences”, which was intended to explain sensations, contains the rudiments of atomistic ideas. In the poem “Purifications”, Empedocles expounded his religious-ethical doctrine of metempsychosis, or transmigration of the soul. He is considered the founder of the Sicilian medical school. Empedocles was influenced by the Pythagoreans and by Parmenides. In the poem “On Nature” he developed the doctrine of the four eternal and invariable elements—air, water, fire, and earth—out of which, in various proportions and combinations, all things are formed. The joining and separation of the elements are predicated on the existence of two forces, love and strife, whose alternating predominance determines the cyclicity of the world process. In the period of the supremacy of love, the elements are fused together, forming an enormous homogeneous sphere which is in a state of peace; the predominance of strife leads to the separation of the elements. The world in which we live, according to Empedocles, represents one of the intermediate stages. The description of the origin of living creatures in the period of ascendancy of love anticipates in some respects the idea of natural selection. ~ (The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd Edition; 1970-1979).

• rhetoric (n.): language which is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous; [e.g.]: “His offers of compromise turned out to be mere rhetoric on closer examination”. [Middle English rethorik, from Old French rethorique, from Latin rhētoricē, rhētorica, from Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē), ‘rhetorical (art)’, feminine of rhētorikos, ‘rhetorical’, from rhētōr, ‘rhetor’, ‘a teacher of rhetoric’; ‘an orator’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• rhetoric (n.): excessive use of ornamentation and contrivance in spoken or written discourse; bombast; speech or discourse which pretends to significance but lacks true meaning; [e.g.]: “What the politician says is mere rhetoric when all is said and done”. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• rhetoric (n.): the undue use of exaggerated language; bombast. [1300-50; Middle English rethorik, from Medieval Latin rēthorica, Latin rhētorica, from Greek rhētorikḕ (téchnē), ‘rhetorical (art)’; see rhetor; viz.: variant singular, in nounal derivation, of eírein, ‘to speak’, ‘tell’ + -tōr, agent suffix + -ic]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• rhetoric (n.): loud and confused and empty talk; [e.g.]: “Their words were mere rhetoric and lacked substance”; (synonyms): empty talk, empty words, hot air, palaver. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• rhetoric (n.): 1. hyperbole, rant, pomposity, bombast, wordiness, verbosity, fustian, grandiloquence, magniloquence; (informal): hot air; [e.g.]: “He has continued his warlike rhetoric on many an occasion”; 2. oratory, eloquence, public speaking, speech-making, elocution, declamation, speechifying, grandiloquence; (informal): spieling; [e.g.]: “the noble institutions, such as political rhetoric, still prevail”. ~ (Collins English Thesaurus).

• bumper-sticker rhetoric (informal): emphatic, concise, and strident political opinions or platitudes (as would be featured on a bumper sticker) which lack depth, nuance, or complete comprehension; [e.g.]: “My opponent tonight has offered plenty of bumper-sticker rhetoric, but she has yet to offer any practical solutions to the problems she has brought up”; “Social media has made bumper-sticker rhetoric the only kind of political discourse people understand”. ~ (Farlex Dictionary of Idioms).

• red meat rhetoric (idiom): rhetoric used by campaigning politicians which is forceful and poignant, as will excite or inflame their supporters; [e.g.]: “The incumbent president, who has so far been somewhat lacklustre this campaign, delivered a blistering speech last night filled with red meat rhetoric”. ~ (Farlex Dictionary of Idioms).