Aristotle on Agon
Faculty Sponsor
Dana Elder, Eastern Washington University
Research Project Abstract
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the ancient Greek definition as, a gathering or assembly, especially for the public games, contest for a prize at the games, any contest or struggle, battle, action at law, mental struggle, anxiety, in Hellenistic Greek also speech delivered in court or before an assembly. Agon, as a form of public debate, included law and politics, but was restricted to open forum debate and typically seen as sport. Agon is also where we get the words protagonist (first sufferer), and antagonist (one who causes suffering). In Book 3 chapter 12 of the Rhetoric, Aristotle suggests a difference between the lexis of written rhetoric and rhetoric in the form of oratory debate. It is of common knowledge that within modern politics the act of a formal debate is more of a performance of cliche lines. My theory is that each modern candidate has confused their lexis of agonistic rhetoric for that of a written one.
Session Number
SS8A
Location
Weyerhaeuser 304
Abstract Number
SS8A-b
Aristotle on Agon
Weyerhaeuser 304
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the ancient Greek definition as, a gathering or assembly, especially for the public games, contest for a prize at the games, any contest or struggle, battle, action at law, mental struggle, anxiety, in Hellenistic Greek also speech delivered in court or before an assembly. Agon, as a form of public debate, included law and politics, but was restricted to open forum debate and typically seen as sport. Agon is also where we get the words protagonist (first sufferer), and antagonist (one who causes suffering). In Book 3 chapter 12 of the Rhetoric, Aristotle suggests a difference between the lexis of written rhetoric and rhetoric in the form of oratory debate. It is of common knowledge that within modern politics the act of a formal debate is more of a performance of cliche lines. My theory is that each modern candidate has confused their lexis of agonistic rhetoric for that of a written one.
