essay writing
Alfadhel
201Assignment2Notes.docxTHE 3 CORE ISSUES FOR ARGUMENT/PERSUASION—to keep the argument in the correct (appropriate) TENSE:
1. blame: the past ( forensic ); the rhetoric threatens punishment
2. values: the present ( demonstrative ); the rhetoric tends to finish with people bonding or
separating based on ideals/beliefs/priorities
3. choice: the future ( deliberative ); the rhetoric promises a payoff; definitely the most
practical and “public”; the most ideal for persuading a group (Why?)>
ARISTOTLE’S 3 APPEALS FOR ARGUMENT/PERSUASION:
1. logos: the tactic is concession
2. pathos: the tactic is sympathy
3. ethos: a.k.a. virtue, or credibility, or character; the tactic is decorum; the most
important, according to Aristotle
ARISTOTLE’S 3 QUALITIES OF ETHOS (PERSUASIVE VIRTUE):
(Rhetorical credibility is all about APPEARANCE, not reality!)
1. virtue, or cause: Gauge the audience and appear to value what they value. (It’s only
temporary.)
2. practical wisdom, or craft: Appear to know what you’re doing.
· Show off your experience (by bending the scenarios to suit it).
· Bend the rules (through demonstrations of nuance and exception).
· Appear to take the middle course (by presenting an extreme as an alternative).
3. disinterest, or caring: Appear to care without bias.
· the reluctant conclusion (only because of the conclusion’s overwhelming rightness)
· the personal sacrifice (that the solution/conclusion will help the audience more than you, even a detriment to you)
· dubitatio: appearing honestly artless; appearing to doubt your own rhetorical skill
out good ol’ aww-shucks honesty
TOOLS OF PATHOS (stirring emotions):
1. beliefs: using what your audience has experienced and what it expects to happen
2. storytelling: to give the audience an embedded, virtual experience (especially if you use
the audience’s experiences in the first person)
3. volume control: underplaying in order to appear to be controlling your emotions
4. simple speech: more emotionally appropriate than more ornate speech
5. anger: by directing audience’s fury at someone by portraying their apparent lack of concern over their problems
6. patriotism: attaching a choice/action to the audience’s sense of group identity (especially when comparing them with a successful rival)
7. emulation: acting as a role model in hopes that the audience will want to act like you
8. unannounced emotion: by not tipping them off in advance
9. desire, or lust: to move them from decision to action (through the vivid detailing of seduction)
10. persuasion gaps: by finding them, then filling them with desire
