a is a collection of research materials and historical records. Most of the writings from these two groups have been lost. The third group, the treatises, was written for his classes, to teach his students. They were either lecture notes or textbooks. These treatises were made only for the students and are the only writings that still survive today. Aristotle's early writings showed his admiration for Plato by imitating Plato's style. He wrote in dialogue form and his themes were variations of themes that Plato had developed. Later on, his writings strayed from Platonistic views and they compared concrete fact to the abstract and often clashed with the views of Plato. Two of his most important writings concerning rhetoric are Organon and Rhetoric.Organon was a collection of papers that included the Categories, the Prior and Posterior Analytics, the Topics, and On Interpretation. The word organon means instrument. In these papers Aristotle investigates thought, which is the instrument of knowledge.Rhetoric was written sometime between 360 and 334 B.C. In this work, he writes about the art of public speaking. It seems that he is writing in direct response to Plato's condemnation of the art. He believes that different rhetoric treats specific cases. These specific cases are topoi, which are different topics that can be persuaded. In Book two of Rhetoric, he lists the twenty-eight common topics, or topoi. He also addresses style, diction, metaphor, and arrangement, but he basically ignores the other canons of rhetoric. This work was the first psychological rhetoric ever presented.The theory of the syllogism was first introduced by Aristotle. He was the first to analyze an argument in a logical order. The generic syllogism is if A belongs to all B, and B belongs to all C, then A belongs to all C. A syllogism can either be dialectical or rhetorical. Dialectical syllogisms are always true. Rhetorical syllogisms are probably true, but not alway...
