How To Learn The Art Of Rhetoric
2.4: The Art of Rhetoric
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What is Rhetoric?
In its simplest form, RHETORIC is the art of persuasion. Every time nosotros write, we engage in debate or argument. Through writing and speaking, we try to persuade and influence our readers, either directly or indirectly. Nosotros work to become them to alter their minds, to do something, or to begin thinking in new means. Put simply, to be effective, every writer needs to know, and be able to use, principles of rhetoric.
Writing is about making choices, and knowing the principles of rhetoric allows a writer to brand informed choices about diverse aspects of the writing process. Every act of writing takes place in a specific RHETORICAL Situation, which is a situation or circumstance in which someone (a writer or speaker) must persuade an audience to do something, to modify their minds, to influence them, etc. This "rhetorical situation" is the same concept that Fifty. Lennie Erwin terms "the writing situation" in his discussion on how writing is different from speaking (encounter "The Departure between Speaking and Writing").
The three most basic, however important components of a rhetorical situation are:
- The purpose of writing or rhetorical aim (the goal the writer is trying to accomplish or statement the writer is trying to make)
- The intended audition
- The author/speaker
These three elements of the rhetorical situation are in a constant and dynamic interrelation. All three are also necessary for advice through writing (or speaking) to take place. For example, if the writer is taken out of this equation, the text will not be created. Similarly, eliminating the text itself will leave the reader and writer, but without whatsoever ways of conveying ideas between them, and so on.
Other components of the rhetorical state of affairs include:
- the medium (the form of communication)
- the allotted fourth dimension for the message (how much time does writer have? appropriate time to persuade?)
- the political, social, or cultural implications, identify, etc.
All writing (or speaking) that is persuasive comes from a source of urgency or EXIGENCE –– a need to communicate the message.
NOTE
Please note that the term "rhetoric" also is used to mean someone speaking flatulent thoughts that are empty of pregnant. The online Oxford dictionary defines rhetoric also as "language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as defective in sincerity or meaningful content" and the instance they give is, "all we have from the Opposition is empty rhetoric." Such a meaning is unfortunately derived from the accent of rhetoric on presentation and delivery. In this course, we will focus on rhetoric every bit a means of constructive communication every bit nosotros aspire to get skilled rhetoricians ourselves.
The post-obit video focuses on the use of rhetoric from the viewpoint as a author. As you lot scout, consider how the same elements hold true from the viewpoint of a reader.
The Rhetorical Situation
When composing an essay, every author must take into account the conditions under which the writing is produced and volition exist read. It is customary to represent the three key elements of the rhetorical situation every bit a triangle of writer, reader, and text, or, equally they are represented on this epitome, as "communicator," "audience," and "message."
Figure 2.iv.1: The Rhetorical Triangle
Source: St. Edward'due south Academy
Changing the characteristics of whatever of the elements depicted in the figure above will change the other elements likewise. For example, with a modify in the behavior and values of the audience, the message volition besides alter to accommodate those new behavior.
What does this agreement of rhetoric have to do with academic and research writing? Everything, really. If you lot have always had trouble with a writing assignment, chances are it was because you could not figure out the assignment's purpose. Or perchance you did non understand very well who was your reader. It is hard to commit to purposeless writing done for no 1 in particular, which is how many students incorrectly arroyo bookish writing.
Rhetorical Appeals
In order to persuade their readers, writers must utilize iii types of proofs, or rhetorical appeals. They are logos , or logical appeal; pathos , or emotional appeal; and ethos , or ethical appeal, or entreatment based on the grapheme and credibility of the writer. An additional appeal, called kairos, refers to whether a bulletin is "of its time menstruum." It is like shooting fish in a barrel to notice that modernistic words "logical," "pathetic," and "upstanding" are derived from those Greek words. In his work Rhetoric, Aristotle writes that the iii appeals must exist used together in every piece of persuasive discourse. An argument based on the appeal to logic, or emotions alone will non exist an effective one.
Pathos
Desolation can best be described as the apply of emotional appeal to sway some other'south opinion in a rhetorical argument. Emotion itself should require no definition, but it should exist noted that effective 'pathetic' appeal (the use of pathos) is oftentimes used in ways that tin can cause anger or sorrow in the minds and hearts of the audience.
Desolation is often the rhetorical vehicle of public service announcements. A number of anti-smoking and passive smoking related commercials use pathos heavily. One of the more memorable videos shows an elderly man rising from the couch to meet his immature grandson who, followed by his mother, is taking his first steps toward the grandfather. As the old human coaxes the young child frontward, the grandfather begins to disappear. Every bit the child walks through him the mother says "I wish your grandfather could see you at present." The audience is left to assume that the grandfather has died, as the vox-over informs u.s.a. that cigarette smoke kills so many people a year, with a closing statement, "exist there for the ones you lot dearest." This commercial uses powerful words (similar "love") and images to get at the emotions of the viewer, encouraging them to quit smoking. The goal is for the audience to become so "enlightened" and emotionally moved that the smoking viewers volition never touch another cigarette.
Ethos
Ethos can be seen every bit the brownie that authors, writers, and speakers take when they present themselves in front of an audience. If, on the showtime day of course, your professor walked in, kind of bent over and looking like they had been out all nighttime and picking their nose, how would yous perceive that instructor? What would your view of the class he takes exist? How confident would you be that this person knows what they are talking well-nigh?
Ethos encompasses a large number of different things which tin can include what a person wears, says, the words they use, their tone of phonation, their credentials, their experience, their relationship with the audience, exact and nonverbal beliefs, criminal records, etc. At times, it can be as important to know who the person presenting the material is, as what they are saying about a topic.
Many companies, especially those big enough to beget famous spokespeople, will apply celebrities in their ad campaigns to promote the sale of their products. Certain soft beverage companies have used the likes of Ray Charles, Madonna, and Britney Spears to sell their products, and have been successful in doing so. The thing yous need to ask yourself is: what practise these celebrities add to the product other than their fame? Or is it their human relationship with the audience that is the selling indicate?
Often times ads for medical products or even chewing gum might say that 4 out of five doctors/dentists recommend a sure product. Some commercials may even show a doctor in a white lab coat blessing whatsoever is for sale. Now, provided that the person you are viewing is an actual medico, this might exist an example of a good ethos argument. On the other manus, if an automotive company uses a famous sports effigy to endorse a product, we might wonder what that person knows about this product. The campaign and glory are not being used to inform the consumer, just rather to catch their attention with what is actually a faulty example of ethos.
How does this use to writing? To begin, if you are going to cite an article near racial equality published by the Ku Klux Klan, or a Neo-Nazi organization, this might transport up a red flag that this particular commodity might be written from a biased viewpoint. You need to research an author'due south background to re-assure yourself that what they are writing is unbiased. Too, if you are trying to present a formal project, you may want to increase your positive ethos by using advisable terminology. Writing that "abortions are all whack and stuff" is probably not the all-time way to convince your audience of your betoken of view. It may happen that you as a writer prefer different voices for different assignments, but your give-and-take choice and your approach to the assignment should reflect what it is you want to say.
Logos
Logos is most hands defined equally the logical appeal of an argument. Say that you are writing a paper on COVID-19 and you say "COVID-nineteen is simply like the flu, so nosotros should have the same measures equally the influenza." This statement is casuistic considering the virus itself, it'south characteristics, and the overall state of affairs is not like that of the influenza. The statement has an illogical comparison. The COVID-19 virus is in a different family of viruses (corona viruses) than are the various flu viruses, such as H1N1. COVID-nineteen displays a wide variety of symptoms (or no symptoms) and is much more contagious precisely because it tin can be transmitted without any symptoms. In addition, we have immunizations confronting the influenza virus, which we practice non yet have for the COVID-19 virus.
Kairos
"Kairos" is an of import, but sometimes illusive, rhetorical term. The discussion itself means "time," and time is central to the concept, which means the "correct fourth dimension" or the "ideal moment" for communicating. Kairos is basically about the context of the moment: what's relevant to the audition at any particular time? Some rhetoricians draw kairos as a fourth "appeal" considering rhetors frequently entreatment to the urgency of a particular time or moment to engage an audience.
Timing, as they sometimes say, is everything. Rhetoric is about finding the best "available means" of persuasion "at whatever given moment" or "in whatsoever given case." By, nowadays, and hereafter ("forensic," "epideictic," and "demonstrative" as the video, beneath, on labels them) are definitely part of the flick here, besides.
Video: How to use rhetoric to get what you want by Camille A. Langston. All Rights Reserved. Standard YouTube license.
Summary: Chart
The chart beneath summarizes the key points relating to the rhetorical appeals:
Rhetorical Appeal | Abbreviated Definition | Cogitating Questions |
Ethos | Entreatment to credibility You may desire to think of ethos as related to "ethics," or the moral principles of the writer: ethos is the author's way of establishing trust with his or her reader. |
|
Desolation | Appeal to emotion You may want to call back of pathos equally "empathy," which pertains to the experience of or sensitivity toward emotion. |
|
Logos | Appeal to logic You may want to retrieve of logos as "logic," considering |
|
Kairos | Appeal to timeliness Yous may want to think of kairos as the type of persuasion that pertains to "the right place and the correct time." |
|
How the Appeals Piece of work Together to Persuade
Understanding how logos, pathos, and ethos should work together is very important for writers who apply enquiry. Frequently, research writing assignments are written in a way that seems to emphasize logical proofs over emotional or ethical ones. Such logical proofs in research papers typically consist of factual data, statistics, examples, and other similar evidence. According to this view, writers of academic papers need to exist unbiased and objective, and using logical proofs will assistance them to exist that way.
Because of this emphasis on logical proofs, you may be less familiar with the kinds of pathetic and upstanding proofs bachelor to you. Pathetic appeals, or appeals to emotions of the audience were considered past aboriginal rhetoricians equally important every bit logical proofs. Yet, writers are sometimes not hands convinced to use pathetic appeals in their writing. As mod rhetoricians and authors of the influential book Classical Rhetoric for the Mod Student (1998), Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert Connors said, "People are rather sheepish virtually acknowledging that their opinions can be affected by their emotions" (86). According to Corbett, many of united states call up that in that location may be something wrong nigh using emotions in argument. But, I concur with Connors, pathetic proofs are not only admissible in statement, but necessary (86-89). The most basic mode of evoking appropriate emotional responses in your audience, according to Corbett, is the use of vivid descriptions (94). This is demonstrated at the beginning of many newspaper and magazine feature articles.
Using upstanding appeals, or appeals based on the graphic symbol of the writer, involves establishing and maintaining your credibility in the eyes of your readers. In other words, when writing, think most how you are presenting yourself to your audition. Do you give your readers enough reasons to trust you and your argument, or practise you give them reasons to doubt your authority and your credibility? Consider all the times when your decision almost the merits of a given argument was affected by the person or people making the argument. For instance, when watching television news, are y'all predisposed against certain cable networks and more than inclined toward others because you lot trust them more?
So, how can writers establish credible personas for their audiences? Ane way to do that is through external research. Conducting research and using it well in your writing help you with the factual proofs (logos), but it likewise shows your readers that y'all, as the author, have done your homework and know what you are talking about. This knowledge, the sense of your authority that using logos creates among your readers, will help you be a more effective writer.
The logical, pathetic, and upstanding appeals work in a dynamic combination with one another. Information technology is sometimes difficult to separate one kind of proof from some other and the methods by which the author achieves the desired rhetorical effect. If your research contains data that is likely to cause your readers to exist emotional, it can raise the pathetic aspect of your statement. The cardinal to using the 3 appeals is to utilize them in combination with each other and in moderation. Information technology is impossible to construct a successful argument by relying as well much on 1 or two appeals while neglecting the others.
Using Rhetorical Appeals in Your Ain Writing
Identifying these appeals in persuasive writing is a valuable skill to learn; agreement how to utilize these appeals in your persuasive writing can show to be an even more powerful ability to develop. To begin, several ways to entreatment to logic exist. Consider the construction and quality of your argument. Digital strategist and rhetorician, Daniel T. Richards, asks writers to consider these questions: "Does your determination follow from your bounds? Volition your audience be able to follow the progression? Does your statement provide sufficient evidence for your audition to be convinced?" To improve the quality of your argument, consider:
- Referring to facts and figures.
- Citing relevant, electric current statistics.
- Providing examples.
- Including and addressing an opposing view.
- Using visual representations.
In addition, as Lane, McKee, and McIntyre recommend in their article regarding logos: maintain consistency in your argument, and avoid fallacious, or faulty, appeals to logic. For example, in "Fallacious Logos," they provide an overview of several false appeals to logic, including the false dilemma, which assumes that in that location are only two options when there are more than.
Writers may employ several methods to appeal to desolation. Read "Desolation" to explore several suggestions which include:
- Referring to other emotionally compelling stories.
- Citing stark, startling statistics that volition invoke a specific emotion in audition members.
- Showing empathy and/or understanding for an opposing view.
- Using humor, if advisable.
Yet, in your efforts to appeal to the audience's emotions, avoid relying on faulty appeals. For example, "Fallacious Pathos" points out that using emotional words that evidence does not back up leads to the statement by emotive language fallacy.
In pondering how to effectively utilize rhetorical devices and aptly avoid fallacies, writers tend to miss the relationship among the rhetorical appeals. Consequently, there is something very right nearly such arguments as the ane advanced by Richards, who argues that "your argument could exist sound. Information technology could even exist emotionally compelling. But if your audience doesn't trust you, if they don't think y'all have their involvement at heart, it won't matter" ("The three Rhetorical Appeals"). Enhance the effectiveness of appeals to pathos and logos with appeals to ethos.
To demonstrate your credibility, effort:
- Referring to relevant piece of work and/or life experience.
- Citing your relevant awards, certificates, and/or degrees.
- Providing evidence from relevant, current, and credible sources.
- Carefully proofreading your work, and asking a few other people to then as well.
Additionally, follow McKee and McIntyre's advice in "Fallacious Ethos." McKee and McIntyre provide specific examples of fallacious ethos.
Conversely, appeals to kairos can assistance y'all make use of the item moment (Pantelides, McIntyre, and McKee). Ask yourself if you tin capitalize on any of the audience'southward fast-approaching moments to create a sense of urgency. However, avoid simulated appeals to kairos. Read "Fallacious Appeals to Kairos" to learn more nigh this topic.
Good writers write to win. As such, rhetorical appeals underlie much of the successful persuasive writing in guild, whether in the form of written arguments, television receiver commercials, or educational campaigns. As previously discussed, some thoughtful, strategic anti-smoking campaigns have reduced smoking-related diseases and death. Additionally, Ariel Chernin, advertising researcher, observes that a big body of literature proves that nutrient marketing affects children'southward food preferences. Similarly, highly-seasoned to logos, desolation, ethos, and kairos in your persuasive writing can assistance you attain your goals. Approaching rhetorical appeals from the inside out—from the perspective of the writer—one tin annotation their effectiveness in persuasive writing, and 1 tin can write to win.
Source: https://human.libretexts.org/Courses/City_College_of_San_Francisco/Writing_Reading_and_College_Success%3A_A_First-Year_Composition_Course_for_All_Learners_(Kashyap_and_Dyquisto)/02%3A_Writing_and_the_Art_of_Rhetoric/2.04%3A_The_Art_of_Rhetoric
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