The textbook consists of four chapters devoted, respectively, to general issues of classical rhetoric, the basics of logical argumentation, methods of psychological manipulation, methods of language manipulation, includes a list of recommended literature, subject and nominal indexes. The author analyzes in detail various approaches to understanding argumentation and its tactics from antiquity to the present day and offers a substantiated original concept of classical rhetoric, in which the methods of persuasion are considered in the logical, psychological and linguistic aspects.