AN INTRODUCTION TO ARGUMENT AND RHETORIC

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AN INTRODUCTION TO ARGUMENT AND RHETORIC

• AP LANGUAGE COMPOSITION

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Everything is an Argument

• Argument the point is to discover some version
  of the truth using evidence and reasonsleading
  audiences toward conviction, an agreement that a
  claim is true or reasonable, or that a course of
  action is desirable.

• Persuasion the point is to change a point of
  view or to move others from conviction to
  action.
• Argue to discover some truth persuade when
  you think you already know it.

Source Lunsford, Andrea A., John J.
Fuszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everythings an
Argument., 4th ed. Boston Bedford/St.
Martins, 2007. p. 8.
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Purposes/Goals of Argument

• To Inform about something audience doesnt
  know to advise of somethings existence
• To Convince audience of your point of view
• To Explore personal reflections, serious
  problems in society, presenting and defending
  solutions
• To Make Decisions may be the result of an
  exploratory argument
• To Meditate or Pray often for the purpose of
  transforming something in oneself or reaching a
  state of equilibrium or peace of mind
• Examples of each one?

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Occasions for Argument

• About the Past forensic arguments (history,
  law, business, academia)
• About the Future deliberative arguments (what
  will or should happen in the future)
• About the Present contemporary values (ethical
  premises and assumptions that are widely held or
  contested within society

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ARISTOTLES RHETORICAL TRIANGLE
LOGOS (topic/message)
Rhetorical Context
Kairos
ETHOS (speaker/writer)
PATHOS (audience/reader)
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Components of Audience Appeal

• Emotional appeal (pathos)
• Ethical appeal (ethos)
• Logical appeal (logos)
• Rhetorical Context
• Kairos

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Logos

• logical appeals these appeal to an audiences
  intelligence (common sense) and use credible
  evidence such as statistics, polls, precedents
  (specific examples from the past), cite
  authorities on topic (must be timely and
  qualified to judge topic), deductive or inductive
  reasoning

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Types of Logical Appeal

• Cite traditional culture
• Cite commonly held beliefs
• Allude to history, the Bible, or great literature
• Provide testimony, evidence, facts
• Draw analogies or create metaphors
• Cite authorities or research
• Cite precedents

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Ethos

• establishing credibility with the audience. The
  writer must be deemed believable and trustworthy
  and often uses outside authorities who are also
  deemed credible to avoid making the argument look
  too personal.

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Types of Ethical Appeal

• Claim authority
• Connect own beliefs and values to core principles
  of audience
• Coming clean about motives
• Make audience believe writer is trustworthy
• Demonstrate that writer put in research time
• Present a carefully crafted and edited argument
• Demonstrate that writer knows and respects the
  audience
• Show concern about communicating with the
  audience
• Convince the audience that the writer is reliable
  and knowledgeable

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Pathos

• using emotional appeals to engage the audience.
  This should not be overdone, but it can be
  effective because humans are emotional as well as
  intellectual beings. A writers word choices,
  use of figurative language, detail, and imagery,
  and tone help to create emotional appeals.

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Types of Emotional Appeal

• Use language that involves the senses
• Include a bias or prejudice
• Focus on basic needs of people
• Physical needslife and health of the body
• Psychological needs -the need for love, respect
• Social needsthe need for freedom, status,
  acceptance
• Use the euphemism or figurative language
• Experiment with informal language

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Identify the Audience Appeal

• The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
• a Livestrong bracelet
• Better a conventional war now, than a nuclear
  confrontation later.
• A Rolex watch
• Just do it (ad for Nike)
• Have it your way. (slogan for Burger King)
• a belated birthday card
• We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

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What emotions are aroused? How do words and
image(s) clash? Is this an appeal to ethos or
pathos? How do you know (evidence)?
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Tonight

• Review examples of logos, pathos, and ethos.
• Find and print an advertisement (i.e. junkmail,
  magazine, newspaper, etc.) that makes an
  argument.
• Label the examples of logos, pathos, and ethos

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Day 3

1. Pair/share present your print ad and appeals to
   your partner, then ask for feedback. Did you miss
   anything? Does your partner agree with your
   labeling?
2. Partners, share with the your small group,
   discuss the appeals, and complete the Audience
   Appeals graphic organizer
3. Debrief (whole group) share most interesting
   appeals, most effective/ineffective

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Day 4
S O A P S T o n e

• Tonight, print and annotate the article My Very
  Own Captain America by addressing the following
• Rhetorical Context (S.O.A.P.S.)
• Authors claim, tone, and call to action
• At least 5 different rhetorical devices (i.e.
  anaphora, figurative language, etc.) and how each
  helps develop/support the claim

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Day 4 Components (contd.)

• Rhetorical context the situation that surrounds
  the act of writing or speaking. Includes
  subject, occassion, purpose, and audience. What
  am I writing about? What is my purpose? For
  whom am I writing?

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What is Bushs ARGUMENT?
President George W. Bush speaks at Mt. Rushmore
in South Dakota, August 15, 2002, regarding his
proposed 170,000-strong Homeland Security
Department. Photo Larry Downing/Reuters
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Consider the vivid diction in this appeal

• Marie inched her heavy wheelchair up the narrow,
  steep entrance ramp to the library, her arms
  straining to pull up the last twenty feet, her
  face pinched with the sheer effort of it.
• Consider the diction and imagery which reveal
  pathos appeal
• What is argument? Opposing view? Call to action?

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Patterns of Development

• The logical way to arrange or organize the
  argument according to the authors purpose.
• Narration
• Description
• Process analysis
• Exemplification
• Comparison and Contrast
• Classification and Division
• Definition
• Cause and Effect

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Components (contd.)

• Kairos The right moment, the opportune time.
  The right or critical place. The speakers
  ability to understand and use the contingency of
  context and to make decisions about the
  appropriateness of rhetorical choices. Relies on
  exigence what happens or what fails to
  happen, reason why one is compelled to speak at
  that moment.

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When Rhetoric Misses the Mark

• Understanding the audience is vital to the
  success of an argument.
• Consider President Clintons initial address to
  the nation concerning Monica Lewinsky
• Why did it miss the mark?
• How was it different from speech as originally
  written?
• What would the audience think/feel while
  listening to it?
• Now, view the actual address to the nation
• Why did he give the speech he did instead of the
  original?

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Clintons Apology?
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v7r4e5Wg4PDI
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Challenger Disaster

• Listen to Reagans speech, then answer the
  prompts regarding
• Purpose
• Tone
• Audience appeal
• Style

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vQa7icmqgsow
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Reagans Argument

• Annotate/Note Reagans
• Rhetorical Context
• Authors claim, purpose, tone, and call to action
• At least 5 different rhetorical devices (i.e.,
  repetition, anaphora, figurative language, etc.)

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• annotate your print copy, addressing the
  following
• Rhetorical Context
• Authors claim, tone, and call to action
• At least 5 different rhetorical devices (i.e.,
  repetition, anaphora, figurative language, etc.)
• What do you think makes the speech remarkable,
  considered to be in the top 100 of American
  speeches?

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Review of an Effective Argument

• Makes claims based on factual evidence
• Makes counter-claims, takes opposing views into
  account
• Neutralizes or defeats serious opposing ideas
• Convinces audience through the merit and
  reasonableness of the claims and proofs offered
• Logic-based
• Makes effective audience appeals