Defining Rhetoric _______________

1. Defining Rhetoric_______________

2. Defining RhetoricAncient Greece

3. “The skill of using language in a speech or writing in a special way that influences or persuades people” Rhetoric: (noun)

4. 1. A skill, an art • 2. Making choices RhetoricExtrapolating Meaning

5. Ancient term coined by Aristotle, who defined it as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” • Thoughtful activity that evaluates communication and leads to an effective and rational exchange of ideas. • How we argue: understanding rhetoric helps you argue in return

6. 1. Rhetoric is both a field of humane study and a pragmatic art; that is, we can read about it as practice it • 2. The practice if rhetoric is culturally determined • 3. When we practice rhetoric, we use language to ‘induce cooperation’ in an audience 5 Assumptions about Rhetoric

7. 4. The purpose of rhetoric, inducing cooperation, involves more than mere persuasion narrowly defined. Discourse that affects an audience, that informs, moves, delights, and teaches, has a rhetorical aim • 5. Rhetoric implies choices, for both the writer and the audience 5 Assumptions about Rhetoric

8. Subject • Purpose Audience The Writing Triangle

9. Subject: What you are writing about; your writing assignment • Purpose: Why you are writing • Audience: Who your reader is • Audience is usually the most difficult to make choices about • We must read in order to understand how make these choices • Writing is the skill of conscientiously making choices based on the writing triangle The Writing Triangle

10. Example • Subject: the door • Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the door • Audience: a friend • Sentence: “Hey, man. Shut the door, will ya?” The Writing Triangle

11. Example • Subject: the door • Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the door • Audience: a student • Sentence: “Please shut the door.” The Writing Triangle

12. Example • Subject: the door • Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the door • Audience:My child • Sentence: “How many times do I have to tell you? Shut the door!” The Writing Triangle

13. When you read critically, all of these elements must come to you quickly and naturally, as an expression of a skill: • Take note of the author’s diction. • Look for any strong connotation or change in the connotative power of the words as you move through the text. • Examine the diction for structures that affect your understanding and appreciation of the work. • Are there any rhetorical questions? Why? Where? • Is the work heavy with parallel syntax, or does the author like sudden, short sentences? Any time you run into a figure of speech, mark it and determine the meaning it brings to the piece. • Is the essay organized fundamentally around pathos, ethos, or logos, and is that the best choice for the argument? Does it conduct the argument convincingly?

14. Pathos • Ethos • Logos • Inductive: These arguments work from example and are a type of logos argument. They use example after example in order to convince you of the logical validity of the author’s point of view. You ask whether the examples are relevant and sufficient. • Deductive: This argument does not provide examples but makes claims that it assumes you will accept as true, then builds its argument based on those claims. You ask whether the initial claims are valid, and then ask whether the claims fundamentally result in the conclusions made by the essay. Elements of RhetoricPELIDS

15. Syllogism: These are a particular type of deductive argument. It provides two premises (claims) and then offers a conclusion. • Example: All humans die. Mona is a human. Therefore, Mona will die.

16. This year we will be learning how to identify the elements in the writing triangle and learning how these elements affect the choices we make when we are writing The Writing Triangle