Flipped Lesson:An Introduction to Rhetoric

AP Language and Composition

Topics to be Covered

Refining rhetoric

The elements of rhetoric

The rhetorical triangle

Rhetorical terminologies

Examples of rhetoric in action

Defining Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the capability of writers or speakers that attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations

Variations: the art of speaking or writing effectively the study of principles and rules of composition

formulated by critics of ancient times the study of writing or speaking as a means of

communication or persuasion skill in the effective use of speech a type or mode of language or speech

Origins of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

About 2,500 years ago, philosopher Aristotle published On Rhetoric as a guide to being a successful speaker and writer.

His ideas of ethos, pathos and logos were so instrumental and successful that they remain our pillars of effective persuasion and argumentation used today.

To make our time in this course successful, we must spend the beginning days focusing on understanding, identifying, enhancing, and then using each of these pillars effectively.

**Ethos is the rhetorical strategy to assess a speaker or writer’s credibility and character. Without credibility, there is no merit. Five components: trustworthiness, credibility, authority, and

reputation/expertise.

There are many questions to consider to determine your credibility: Does the audience respect you? Does the audience believe you are of good character? Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy? Does the audience believe you are an authority on this

topic? Do you know what you’re talking about?

ETHOS

Ethos, cont’d

**Credibility can also occur thanks to similarities shared between the audience and the speaker or writer.

**Similarities to consider include: age, gender, race, culture, socio-economic status, citizenship, career, education, and personality.

Examples: Determine the level of ethos of the following. Do you share any similarities with these subjects? A high school drop out writing about missed opportunities. A stay at home mother writing about creating a successful at-

home business. A high school drop out writing about why students should go

to college.

Ethos, cont’d

**Trustworthiness and credibility are important factors, but two factors not found in Aristotle’s time are authority and expertise.

**Authority refers to the relationship between the speaker/writer and the audience. This includes the following: Organizational authority (business CEO, manager, supervisor) Political authority (president or political leader) Religious authority (priest, pastor, nun) Educational authority (principal, teacher, professor) Elder authority (anyone who is older than us as an individual)

The greater one’s authority, the higher the likelihood the audience is inclined to read or listen and to be persuaded.

Ethos, cont’d.

**Reputation or expertise is the fourth and final component of ethos as developed by Aristotle.

**Expertise is what you (or a speaker/writer) knows about a topic.

**Reputation is what the audience knows about a topic.

**Reputation is determined by several factors: Experience in the field outlined in the topic – years of study. Proximity to the topic – level of involvement, the person responsible,

etc. Production in the field – published, authored, created anything related. Achievements and recognition – awards won, testimonials earned,

records achieved. Demonstrated skill – if you’re discussing money management, are you

in debt?

How do these characteristics combine?

Ethos cannot be assessed with a checkbox (“Yes, you have ethos!” or “No, you don’t. Sorry.”) like you can with other things.

It’s more like beauty in the sense that there’s a whole range of beauty and many ways to obtain it, and it’s in the eye of the beholder (which in this respect is the audience).

Ethos: Practice

Consider the following. What types of ethos do each have?• A substitute teacher filling in for me.• A teacher who is appointed to the position of

principal.• A principal appointed to school superintendent.• The president delivering the State of the Union

address.

• What about MY credibility? What qualifications do I have, and who are others in the school that may have higher and lower credibility than I?

• Remember that ethos depends on several factors and contexts!

What is Pathos?

**Pathos is the quality of persuasion which appeals to the emotions of the audience; derived from Ancient Greek words for ‘suffering’ and ‘experience.’

Common words from the same root used frequently today: Pathology: describing the source of a patient’s disease or

suffering. Empathy: the ability to share the emotions of another person. Sympathy: similar ability to share emotions, usually negative ones

such as pain or sadness. Antipathy: equates with strong, negative emotions toward another. Pathetic: something likely to arouse compassion or contempt.

Pathos, cont’d. Using pathos connects to audiences by allowing

them to “feel their pain” to build a bridge of trustworthiness.

Using pathos ties readers into the topic so that they can identify with the shared experience, thus forming a connection that allows for persuasion, argument, or other action.

Also, using emotional appeals helps make logical claims stronger or more memorable.

Photos and advertisements achieve this almost seamlessly and effortlessly.

Pathos, cont’d.

However, pathos without a rooted foundation is disaster. Making an audience angry is useless; instead, make them angry and direct that anger to the topic of your writing.

Just as having high ethos can make an audience more likely to be persuaded, the same regard can be applied to pathos.

With the proper use of pathos, audiences will: Be more likely to understand a perspective (via the shared

emotion or experience). Be more likely accept claims being made. Be more likely to act on a call-to-action being made.

The Five Pillars of Pathos

WORD CHOICE

ANALOGIES & METAPHORS

ANECDOTES

HUMOR

VISUALS

Pathos in Use

Knowing what emotion is and how to identify it is relatively simple. Knowing when and how to use it effectively is key.

**#1 – Word Choice Some words are emotionally neutral while others are

emotionally charged. When analyzing speeches and nonfiction, make note of a

writer’s diction (word choice) that adds power, punch, and convey emotion.

The use of vivid, sensory words allows audiences to feel emotions associated to those words. (“the touch of grandpa’s flannel shirt…”)

Consider the difference in words used to label a suicide bomber on opposing sides of a political war. What emotion does the label “terrorist” evoke? What emotion does the label “martyr” evoke?

Pathos in Use, cont’d.

**#2 – Analogies and Metaphors Analogies, metaphors, and other figures of speech

not only add interest, but often makes an emotional connection by tapping into emotions already felt by an audience.

Example: If you speak about gang violence, you might plainly state that “We have a problem in our city…” On the other hand, you might say “We have a cancer in our city…” The latter analogy draws on your audience’s pre-existing feelings about cancer, and makes them want to eradicate the cause!

Pathos in Use, cont’d.

**#3 – Storytelling/Anecdotes Stories are often the quickest path to the greatest emotional

connection with an audience. Carefully crafted stories allow one to evoke any of a wide range of emotions which explains why stories are often the most memorable components of a speech.

**#4 – Humor Humor is closely related to storytelling, because you usually

arrive at humor through stories. Nonetheless, humor merits special mention.

Humor in a presentation evokes emotions such as joy and surprise, and often triggers secondary emotions such as calmness and friendship.

If an audience is laughing, they are having fun. If they are having fun, they are happy to be listening to you and they are attentive. As an added boost, humor makes your audience like you (at least for a moment), and that boosts your ethos too.

Pathos in Use, cont’d.

**#5 – Use of Visuals Saying “smoking damages lung

tissues” is almost ineffective compared to showing an image of blackened lungs due to smoking.

Visuals quickly evoke vast amounts of emotions and are concise arguments that appeal to a large variety of audiences.

In a digital and visual 21st century, visuals are utilized to extremes.

Logos

Logos is the Greek root word from which the English logic is derived. Therefore, logos refers to “logical reasoning” of a speech or writing.

To be able to understand and evaluate one’s logos, one must understand the two “flavors” of logical reasoning: 1) Deductive Reasoning 2) Inductive Reasoning

Flavors of Logos

#1-- Deductive Reasoning: Claim + claim = a true conclusion. The key is that in a deductive argument, if your claims are

true, then your conclusion must be true. For example, consider the following deductive argument:

Audiences hate all boring things. (claim) Bullet-point slides are boring. (claim) Therefore, audiences hate bullet-point slides. (conclusion)

So, if audiences hate boring things (yes!) and if bullet-point slides are boring (yes!), then audiences must hate bullet-point slides.

Claims will also be referred to as premises from time to time.

Flavors of Logos, cont’d.

Deductive Example #2 Students hate boring work. (claim) Worksheets are boring. (claim) Therefore, students are bored with

worksheets. (conclusion)

So, if students hate being bored in school (yes!) and if worksheets are boring (yes!), then students must hate worksheets.

Flavors of Logos, cont’d.

#2-- Inductive Reasoning: Claim + claim = a conclusion (not guaranteed to be true) Deductive vs. Inductive reasoning = the conclusion is

not guaranteed to be true in inductive reasoning. It can only be stated with some degree of confidence.

For example, consider the following inductive argument: People Magazine articles you have read in the past were

insightful. (claim) This is a People Magazine article. (claim) Therefore, this article is insightful. (conclusion) Given these claims, it is reasonable to expect that this article

will be insightful, but it cannot be stated with certainty and it must be inferred.

Key Points/Summary

Ethos – appeals based on credibility and character Factors like education, age, proximity to

topic, reputation and experience aid in building credibility.

Pathos – appeals based on emotion Word choices, analogies, metaphors,

anecdotes, humor and visuals aid in targeting key emotions.

Logos – appeals that are logical The concrete logic/fact of the argument.

Assessment

ETHOS PATHOS LOGOS DEDUCTIVE REASONING INDUCTIVE REASONING

FIVE COMPONENTS OF ETHOS

FIVE PILLARS OF PATHOS

Be prepared to evaluate a scenario or create your own.

Be able to define (in your own words of understanding) each of the terminologies and concepts below. Surviving this course and finding success depends on this foundational information.

After your assessment, we will discuss this information. Bring any questions you may have with you to class. Our

next step is to look at how to organize an argument with a balance of Aristotle’s concepts and will move forward to

evaluate how to increase the successfulness of all arguments.