The Art of Rhetoric

Rhetoric: Aristotle defined rhetoric as the power of finding the available arguments suited to a given situation. Rhetoric helped people choose the best course of action when they disagreed about important political, religious, or social issues.

Aristotle-Father of rhetoric-4th century Greek philosopher.

Rhetorical Triangle/Situation

Rhetorical Triangle/Situation-The relationship between speaker/writer, his or her purpose, his or her audience, and strategies used to convince that audience. Essentially, analysis of the rhetorical situation asks an individual to consider, given a specific rhetorical purpose, with a target audience in mind, what strategies does a speaker/writer adopt to support his/her claim?

Speaker/Writer’s Purpose

Speaker/Writer’s Purpose: What is the intent of the speaker/writer?

Always begin analysis with the big 4: Entertain Persuade Express an opinion Inform

Audience

Audience: It is very important to consider your audience in a rhetorical situation (argument). What do you know about your audience? What might be their stance on the issue? What characterizes the group of people you want to

reach? What kind of response do you want from your

readers/listeners? How do you establish your credibility (that you are a

valid source of information)? Given this information, what strategies do you want to

use?

Persuasive Strategies

Strategies: These are techniques/tools you can use to help persuade an audience and support your argument.

Now that you have determined your purpose and identified characteristics about your audience, what strategies are you going to use to support your argument?

Aristotle’s Big 3 Persuasive Strategies

Logos: (appeal to audience’s logic)-Using logic to persuade an audience. Includes numbers, statistical reasoning, facts, scientific reasoning, syllogism, etc.

Pathos (appeal to the audience’s emotions)-This is typically referred to as appeals to the heart, or “pulling at the heart strings.”

Ethos (appealing to an audience by establishing speaker’s credibility)-This is persuading an audience by establishing the fact that you are a reliable, credible, legitimate source of information on a subject.

Aristotle’s Hierarchy of Appeals

According to Aristotle, logos (use of logic) is the most legitimate way to support an argument.

Again, according to Aristotle, pathos (emotion) is the least legitimate way to support a claim. You want an argument to rely more on logic than emotion.

However, according to Aristotle’s philosophy, any solid argument should incorporate all 3 appeals.

Persuasive Strategies Continued

Diction: Obviously, in any rhetorical situation, an author’s choice of words is an important strategy. You can make an audience agree with you by choosing words carefully.

Connotative Language: Using emotionally charged words can influence the way an audience views an issue.