expression τέχνη, which is used from time to time, does not come into play as the basic definition. Rhetoric is δύναμις insofar as it sets forth a “possibility,” a possibility to speak in definite ways. Rhetoric as such does not have the task of πεῖσαι.24 It does not have to cultivate a definite conviction about a matter, to set it to work with others. Rather, it only sets forth a possibility of discourse for those that speak, insofar as they are resolved to speak with πεῖσαι as their aim. The ῥήτωρ is a δυνάμενος, specifically, a δυνάμενος θεωρεῖν—and not πεῖσαι—“to see” περὶ ἕκαστον τὸ πιθανόν. Just as the thief is one that can λάθρᾳ λαμβάνειν.25 But βούλεσθαι belongs to the genuineness of the way of being of a thief, namely, that a thief chose to steal. Still, the δύναμις of ῥητορική is different from that of σοφιστική. Σοφιστική is also a mode of knowing-one’s-way-around discourse, but it is not ἐν τῇ δυνάμει. Instead, it is ἐν τῇ προαιρέσει.26 Ῥητορική is maintained ἐν δυνάμει. It cultivates a possibility for the one who wants to convince, a possibility that cultivates in itself the ability-to-see that which speaks for a matter; while it belongs to the sense of σοφιστική to convince another unconditionally. This definition, in contrast with the old definition, πειθοῦς δημιουργός, is much more cautious. It does not include reaching the τέλος of speaking. “Even medicine as such does not make one healthy”;27 instead, it only sets forth a particular possibility for whoever decides to heal someone. The possibility leads up to a certain limit. It puts one in a position “to advance [healing] as far as the possibilities of medicine allow. Thus one can treat those who are hopelessly sick, according to medicinal prescriptions.”28
This comparison of ῥητορική with ἰατρική provides the ground for distinguishing all possible τέχναι from ῥητορική. Medicine includes a determinate knowledge of the matter, and when it is conveyed to others it is a διδασκαλική.29 It teaches; it imparts, within the scope of a determinate subject area, that which is given to it in advance, and from the outset, as its topic. Medicine deals with healthy and sick human beings, ἀριθμητική deals with numbers, and every knowing-one’s-way-around deals with a determinate subject area.30 Ῥητορική has no subject area that can be demarcated in any way. Because it does not, it should not be designated as τέχνη. Ῥητορική is not τέχνη, though it is τεχνικόν.31
24. Rhet. Α 1, 1355 b 10: οὐ τὸ πεῖσαι ἔργον αὐτῆς.
25. Aristotelis Topica cum libro de sophisticis elenchis. E schedis Ioannis Strache edidit M. Wallies. Lipsiae in aedibus B.G. Teubneri 1923. Ζ 12, 149 b 26 sqq.: ἐστὶ ῥήτωρ μὲν ὁ δυνάμενος τὸ ἐν ἑκάστῳ πιθανὸν θεωρεῖν [ . . . ], κλέπτης δ’ ὁ λάθρᾳ λαμβάνων.
26. Rhet. Α 1, 1355 b 18.
27. Rhet. Α 1, 1355 b 12: οὐδὲ γὰρ ἰατρικῆς τὸ ὑγιᾶ ποιῆσαι.
28. Rhet. Α 1, 1355 b 13 sq.: μέχρι οὗ ἐνδέχεται, μέχρι τούτου προαγαγεῖν. ἔστιν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἀδυνάτους μεταλαβεῖν ὑγιείας ὅμως θεραπεῦσαι καλῶς.
29. Rhet. Α 2, 1355 b 28.
30. Rhet. Α 2, 1355 b 28 sqq.
31. Rhet. Α 2, 1355 b 33 sq.: διὸ καὶ φαμεν αὐτὴν οὐ περί τι γένος ἴδιον ἀφωρισμένον ἔχειν τὸ τεχνικόν.