“Speech is a powerful lord, which by means of the finest and most invisible body affects the most divine works: it can stop the fear and banish grief and create joy and nurture pity”*
The awareness about the power of speaking is as old as humanity.
If you happen to know the story or the film of the Trojan war, you may assume that Helen of Troy was a person of questionable integrity – because she left her husband and triggered a major war conflict leading to the destruction of several mighty cities.
Ancient Greeks were persuaded for the opposite by Gorgias, a sophist who supported that Helen could do nothing against the power of persuasion of the Trojan Paris.
Back to the modern world, Medicine, have you noticed any similar works of speech in our field, Medicine? What is the place of speaking/rhetoric/persuasion in contemporary healthcare?
In my view, anything from persuading a patient to adhere to their treatment to making policymakers take necessary steps for health promotion and prevention can be regarded as an achievement of speaking (either in oral or in written form).
Do you view it this way too?
*Gorgias, Encomium of Helen.8
