Classical Rhetoric

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Classical Rhetoric

• The Art of Persuading Your Audience

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What is rhetoric?

• Aristotle first defined rhetoric as the power to
  see the possible ways of persuading people about
  a given subject.
• Teenagers are natural masters of rhetoric- they
  easily use language in hopes to persuade their
  friends, teachers and parents.
• Rhetoric is everywhere! Whether its a politician
  using it for a vote, a teenager peer pressuring a
  friend or an adult writing a report at work-
  everyone uses rhetoric in some form or another.
• If a students understand how they can use
  rhetoric in their assignments, they will have the
  power to write effectively.

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Three ways to master rhetoric

• Logos
• Pathos
• Ethos

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Logos

• Logos is the appeal for reason and logic
• Everything has facts and everyone needs facts in
  order to be convinced
• So, step one is to make sure you are using facts
  to back up your ideas when writing and speaking
• For example, Studies show 9 out of 10 teachers
  prefer students who participate in class.

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Reasoning with logos

• A fact is simply something you know exists or
  something you can verify with experimentation
• Two ways to use facts for your argument are
  inductive and deductive reasoning

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Inductive Reasoning

• Inductive reasoning is when you use specific
  facts to reason general conclusions or
  generalizations
• Think of a triangle- you start with specific
  points and get broader with your statements
• In science you might collect specific data during
  a lab and then write a summary or analysis at the
  end to explain your conclusions
• As a child you might have liked how fire looked
  but after burning your hand while trying to touch
  it, you inductively reasoned that touching the
  fire equals pain.

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Deductive Reasoning

• When you reason deductively, you begin with a
  generalization and back it up with specific
  points.
• In essays you may have a major premise or main
  idea that you want to back up with specific
  examples.
• Think of an upside down triangle- you start broad
  and get into narrow details
• As a teenager you may generalize that homework
  should not be given on the weekends. You may
  then support that statement with examples of how
  no homework on the weekend would allow you
  quality time with friends and family. You may
  even deductively reason that homework takes away
  from spending time with those you love.

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Pathos

• Pathos is the appeal toward emotions
• In order to convince your audience you must
  appeal to your audiences emotions
• Even if you cannot convince the audience of your
  point, you must at least evoke some emotion,
  response, reaction or move/touch them in some
  powerful way
• Chances are you only learn from teachers who make
  you feel something in class rather than teachers
  who bore you with facts in a monotone voice

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Ethos

• Ethos is the appeal to the audience
• In order for your audience to believe your facts
  and be affected by emotions, they must believe
  that you are a credible and reliable source
• There are many ways to show off your character or
  expertise correct grammar, high diction (vocab),
  citing a credible source and explaining extensive
  background knowledge on a subject
• Yoo probabley woudnt lissen to a english teacher
  if he wroat licke this
• Bottom line if you dont sound like you know
  what youre talking about, no one will listen

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Audience

• In order to have ethos and appeal to the
  audience, you must first understand who your
  audience is and for what purpose youre writing.
  
• If you were writing a high school sweetheart in
  class it might read Hey baby, I dig you
• If you wrote a different letter to your
  grandparents it might start with Dear grandma
  and grandpa,
• And if you wrote a business letter for a class
  assignment, it would probably read Dear Hiring
  Official
• As you can see, you must, must, must, must
  understand who you are writing to and why you are
  writing- even for essays and lab reports

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Using logos, pathos and ethos on your audience

• Depending on your audience, some will appeal more
  to logos rather than pathos and visa versa but a
  mixture of both need to be included
• If you were trying to convince your parents for a
  later curfew, they most likely will be persuaded
  by logos facts about where youll be going, who
  youll be going with, what youll be doing and
  how they can reach you. However, even though
  they may appeal more to logos, its not a bad
  idea to throw a little pathos in as well.
• On the flip side, if you are trying to peer
  pressure your friend who is afraid of heights to
  go on a high roller coaster, statements full of
  pathos will work best Come on chickenbawk,
  bawk, bawk, bawk Even though peer pressure is
  just a manipulation of emotions, some teens might
  need some logos thrown in (like the safety facts
  etc)