CONCERNING THE PRE-SOCRATIC DOCTRINES IN RHETORIC

Background. Mastering the rhetorical art as a philological discipline must be based on scientific understanding of the subject of speech influence. The latter is only possible if one masters not only the knowledge of the current state of the discipline, but also the ability to analyze the theoretical achievements of the art of rhetoric in its formation and elaboration. That is what enables the scholar to assess the adequacy of the ratio of learning goals and objectives, as well as the correctness of moral, philological and pedagogical preferences underlying the mastery of the subject. Purpose. The article analyzes scholarly principles of one of the most important trends of early Greek rhetoric, represented in the main concepts of the ancient sophists. Materials and methods. The research material was the general philological and didactic postulates of most prominent rhetoricians of the period in question. To highlight the approaches, the method of critical analysis as well the structural-semantic and the philological historical methods are used. Results. The article demonstrates that the study of the origins of rhetoric gives the correct direction to its understanding. The reason of predominantly didactic nature of early rhetoric is its orientation towards practical goals. Nevertheless, the analyzed concepts enable us to assert that in them, as in the main approaches of the time, the theoretical philological basis is present in the form of rationalizing the essence and prospects of pathos and logos, the latter being considered with an emphasis on the comparison and justification of competing views, as well as on the actual linguistic techniques that ensure the effectiveness of verbal influence. Practical implications. The data obtained can be used in the analysis of the principles of construction and evaluation of argumentation in debates, as well as in university courses in stylistics for discussing the problem of the effectiveness of speech means.