Introduction to Rhetoric

1
Introduction to Rhetoric

• Analytical and Rhetorical Writing
• Matt Barton

2
One Minute Prompt 1

• What is effective writing?

3
Well, what is rhetoric?

• Rhetoric is defined as
• The art of persuasion
• Trickery or brainwashing techniques
• Meaningless ornamentation bombast
• The study of effective discourse

4
Ancient Rhetoric

• Aristotle defines rhetoric as
• The faculty or ability to discover all available
  means of persuasion in a given situation.
• Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic, a
  type of formal reasoning that leads to truth.
  Rhetoric is what allows us to persuasively
  communicate these truths.

5
The History of Rhetoric

• The study of rhetoric began in Ancient Greece.
• A tyrant had just been overthrown, democracy had
  been established, and people had to go before
  courts to justify their ownership of land.
• The sophists (Protagoras, Gorgias, Isocrates)
  were traveling teachers who taught people to
  speak persuasively.

6
Protagoras (481-420 BC)

• He is best known for saying, Man is the measure
  of all things.
• Placed emphasis on using words correctly.
• Charged extremely high fees to attend his
  lectures.

7
Gorgias (483-376 BC)

• Gorgias main three arguments were
• Nothing exists
• Even if something exists, nothing can be known
  about it, and
• Even if something could be known about it,
  knowledge about it can't be communicated to
  others
• Often called The Nihilist.

8
Isocrates (436338 BC)

• Operated a very successful school in Athens
• Combined rhetoric with study of ethics and
  politics
• Taught practical skills rather than abstract
  philosophies

9
Topoi

• Sophists taught a kind of argument template
  called a topos (plural topoi), which meant
  common places
• Example If a quality does not in fact exist
  where it is more likely to exist, it clearly does
  not exist where it is less likely.

10
Sophistry

• The main sophists main claim is that absolute
  truth is irrelevant what matters is what the
  intended audience believes to be true.

11
Conflicts with Plato

• Plato complained that the sophists didnt care
  about truth they would train people to argue
  effectively even if they knew they were wrong.
• Compared rhetoric to cookery, or mere
  ornamentation.

12
Aristotle

• Argued that rhetoric was a tool that could be
  used for good or evil.
• His book, the Rhetoric, remains one of the best
  treatises ever written on the subject of
  rhetoric.
• Identified three types of rhetorical proof
• Pathos, Logos, and Ethos

13
Pathos

• Pathos appeals rely on emotions and feelings to
  persuade the audience
• They are often direct, simple, and very powerful

14
Logos

• Logos appeals rely on the audiences
  intelligence to persuade them.
• Education causes audiences to be more skeptical
  of emotional arguments and more receptive to
  logos

15
Ethos

• Ethos is a persons credibility with a given
  audience. It can mean sincerity, authority,
  expertise, faithful, or any adjective that
  describes someone you can trust to do the right
  thing.

16
Rhetoric in Ancient Rome

• The Romans took Greek Rhetoric and used them to
  teach.
• The Romans divided rhetoric into five canons
• Invention
• Arrangement
• Style
• Memory
• Delivery

17
Stasis

• Stasis is the process of discovering the true
  issues at the heart of a debate.
• Conjectural
• Question of Fact Did Smith kill Jones?
• Definitional
• Question of Definition Was this murder or
  manslaughter?
• Qualitative
• Question of Quality Did Smith have a good
  reason?
• Translative
• Jurisdiction Is this the right venue for this
  discussion?

18
Rhetoric through Middle Ages

• Medieval educators saw rhetoric primarily as the
  art of preaching.
• The scholastics (Medieval scholars) were obsessed
  with logic and syllogistic reasoning.
• All men are mortal.
• Socrates is a man.
• Socrates is mortal.

19
16th Century (Renaissance)

• Peter Ramus took Invention and Arrangement away
  from Rhetoric and gave them to Philosophy
• Argued that discovering truth (philosophy) is
  not related to presenting the truth (rhetoric)

20
Rene Descartes

• Under Descartes influence, philosophers became
  obsessed with formal logic.
• Descartes systematically doubted everything that
  could not be absolutely proven to be true.
• Rhetoric fell into disrepute as logical
  positivism dominated philosophy.

21
17th Century Rhetoric

• Francis Bacon and other prominent scientific
  thinkers argued that language should be as simple
  and direct as possible.
• Elegant writing and speaking was seen merely as a
  distraction (and waste of time).

22
What does formal reasoning leave out?

• Emphasis on certainty and reasoning led to
  scientism, or the idea that all non-scientific
  claims are of equal value.
• With no way to argue about ethics or morality,
  non-scientific decisions must be made by force.

23
Modern Rhetoric

• Now we are returning to the classical
  perspectives of rhetoric.
• Rhetoric is useful for helping us make decisions
  about things that we cannot know for certain.
• One modern rhetorician, Kenneth Burke, argues
  defines rhetoric as
• the use of symbols to induce cooperation in those
  who by nature respond to symbols.

24
What can I learn from rhetoric?

• Rhetorical thinking means asking yourself these
  questions when you are engaged in a written or
  spoken argument
• What is my claim?
• What statements will I need to make to support my
  claim?
• How can I show that my evidence really supports
  my claim?
• Rhetorical thinking is always focused on the
  audience.

25
One Minute Prompt

• What is rhetoric?