Epideictic speech: From classics to modernity

Epideictic (epidictic, demonstrative) speech has been considered since ancient times as one of the main genres of rhetorically developed speeches. In Aristotle, this rhetorical genre did not receive proper development, being pushed into the background by the most relevant deliberative and judicial speech for a competitive democracy. Epideictic speech in the oratorical practice of Ancient Greece and Rome was considered as a means of exercising eloquence as a pure art, and declamation as a school exercise for developing phonation skills. The publication in 1958 of the book X. Perelman and L. Olbrecht-Tyteki’s “New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation” marked a new reading of the rhetorical classics, which aroused interest in epideictic speech. The latter began to be considered as a tool that forms values in the public consciousness. In this regard, the researchers noted that rational argumentation, which is objectively based on the common views of the speaker and the audience, should not ignore the value and semantic orientations of listeners, which underlie their productive activities in accordance with the ideas laid down by deliberative and judicial speech. Epideictic speech is important for educational activities as an instrument of socialization, the formation of a worldview, and the education of commitment to values that have been living in the public consciousness for centuries, which makes its use by teachers and students effective.