AristotleKnowledge comes fromKnowledge comes from

experience.experience.

It would be It would be erroneous to erroneous to call anyone call anyone

the father of the father of all knowledge, all knowledge, but if such a but if such a title were to title were to be given to a be given to a single person, single person, it would have it would have

to be to be Aristotle.Aristotle.

Aristotle: A Brief Biography

• 384-322 BCE384-322 BCE

• Born in Stagira, Greece in Born in Stagira, Greece in Thrace, near MacedoniaThrace, near Macedonia

• Son of Nickomacus, a Son of Nickomacus, a prominent physicianprominent physician

• Died in Euboea in 322 BCEDied in Euboea in 322 BCE

Plato’s Student

• Became Plato’s Became Plato’s student at 18 years student at 18 years old and studied old and studied under him for 20 under him for 20 yearsyears

• Subjected to Plato’s Subjected to Plato’s philosophiesphilosophies

• Developed his own Developed his own philosophies after philosophies after Plato’s deathPlato’s death

Aristotle Becomes a Royal Tutor

When Aristotle left Plato in 347, he settled briefly on islands near the Ionian coast.

He then accepted an invitation to teach the son of the Macedonian King, Phillip II, whose father had been attended by Aristotle's own father.

Alexander the GreatAristotle tutored Aristotle tutored Phillip’s son, Phillip’s son, Alexander, Alexander, for 5 years until for 5 years until Phillip died and Phillip died and Alexander assumedAlexander assumedthe throne.the throne.

Alexander went on Alexander went on to conquer much to conquer much of the nearby world.of the nearby world.

Impact and Impact and InfluencesInfluences

of Aristotle’s of Aristotle’s PhilosophiesPhilosophies

• Aristotle left us with many of his philosophies; his thoughts went beyond the understanding of the people of his time.

• He is sometimes referred to as the “prince of philosophy.”

• His philosophy became the basis of philosophies and sciences that came after his time.

• His proposed method of inquiry is widely used today as an approach to answer questions.

RhetoricRhetoric“the faculty of discovering in any particular

case all of the available means of persuasion”

The importance of rhetoric:

• If a judge’s decisions are not what they should be, the loss was caused by the speakers.

• Sometimes facts and knowledge are not good enough to make a decision. This is when the mode of persuasion comes into play.

• The ability to persuade provides clarity to facts and can prove a fallacious fact wrong.

RhetoricRhetoric

It is just as important to fight with words as it is with weapons.

The Power of the The Power of the RhetoricianRhetorician

The Speaker has:The Speaker has:• the power of evincing a personal the power of evincing a personal

character which will make his speech character which will make his speech crediblecredible ((ethosethos))

• the power of stirring the the power of stirring the emotionsemotions of of his hearers his hearers ((pathospathos ) )

• the power of proving a the power of proving a truthtruth, or an , or an apparent truth, by means of apparent truth, by means of persuasive arguments persuasive arguments ((logoslogos ) )

The Three The Three AppealsAppeals

• EthosEthos

• Pathos Pathos

• LogosLogos

Ethos:Ethos: creating an creating an effective personaeffective persona

• Ethos is the persuasive value associated Ethos is the persuasive value associated with the persona created in the text.with the persona created in the text.

Whose voice are we reading and what Whose voice are we reading and what can can

we infer about that voice from the text?we infer about that voice from the text?• Ethos is the credibility of the persona Ethos is the credibility of the persona

created. created. • Ethos appeals to the audience’s sense of Ethos appeals to the audience’s sense of

trust and familiaritytrust and familiarity..

Pathos:Pathos: appealing to appealing to your reader’s values, your reader’s values, beliefs, and emotionsbeliefs, and emotions

• The pathetic appeal is useful because you The pathetic appeal is useful because you engage your audience on a engage your audience on a personal levelpersonal level. . This is This is often strongeroften stronger than the appeal to than the appeal to logic.logic.

• A pathetic appeal can go wrong, however, A pathetic appeal can go wrong, however, when the link to your argument isn’t clear.when the link to your argument isn’t clear.

Logos:Logos: stating the stating the factsfacts

• A logical appeal relies on A logical appeal relies on factual evidencefactual evidence..

• Logical appeals are strong because often the Logical appeals are strong because often the facts speak for themselves.facts speak for themselves.

• Also, logical appeals are seemingly Also, logical appeals are seemingly objective: just the facts ma’am.objective: just the facts ma’am.

• The weakness of the logical appeal used The weakness of the logical appeal used alone is that alone is that the audience gets no sense of the audience gets no sense of the writer’s persona,the writer’s persona, and and the cold hard facts the cold hard facts don’t affect the audience’s values directly.don’t affect the audience’s values directly.

Our MediaOur Media• What are some examples of ethos, What are some examples of ethos,

logos, and pathos that you have logos, and pathos that you have encountered recently in the media?encountered recently in the media?

• Which rhetorical mode of persuasion Which rhetorical mode of persuasion is most convincing?is most convincing?

Let’s Let’s Experiment!!!Experiment!!!