urpose of rhetoric, in this view, is therefore to facilitate the making of order and the greatest sense possible out of ideas. Rhetorical devices are employed to reach a sensible conclusion regarding an idea; that is what Aristotle means by defining persuasion as "a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated. The orator's demonstration is an enthymeme [reduction of an idea to a logical conclusion by means of a reasoning process], and this is, in general, the most effective of the modes of persuasion" (R 22). The reason that ideas have to be demonstrated, proven, or otherwise validated is that their validity is not self evident, or as Aristotle puts it, "necessary." Rather, he says, "Most of the things about which we make decisions, and into which therefore we inquire, present us with alternative possibilities. For it is about our actions that we deliberate and inquire, and all our actions have a contingent character; hardly any of them are determined by necessity" (R 28).
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