Rhetoric Ch. 1

• Aristotle's Definition of Rhetoric


  “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”
• Aristotle


  Father of Rhetoric
• Rhetoric 


  a thoughtful, reflective activity leading to effective communication, including the rational exchange of opposing viewpoints
• Rhetoric (Short Definition)

  Art of Persuasion
• Rhetoric is always situational
• Texts


  cultural products that can be “read”, meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated
• Examples of Texts


  essays, political cartoons, advertisements, pictures, films
• Persona


  face or a character that the speaker shows to their audience
• SOAPS


  mnemonic device that serves as a tool for remembering the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation
• SOAPS stands for: Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker
• Subject


  topic, not the same as purpose
• Occasion


  the time or place the text was written or spoken. Exists within a specific context
• Context


  the circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surround the text
• Audience


  listener, reader, or viewer of a text or performance. May be multiple
• Purpose


  goal the speaker wants to achieve
• Speaker


  the person or group who creates a text
• Rhetorical Appeals


  techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling.
• The 3 Rhetorical Appeals are: ethos, logos, pathos
• Ethos (Greek for “character”)


  credibility, trustworthiness; If you don’t have automatic ethos, you build your ethos by explaining your credentials or backgrounds to your readers or by emphasizing shared values
• Automatic Ethos


  people like celebrities, leaders, wealthy people, etc
• Pathos (Greek for “suffering” or “experience”)


  appeal to emotions, values, desires, and hopes, or fear and prejudices. You can use figurative language, personal anecdotes, and vivid images
• Connotation


  positive or negative meaning of a word beyond it’s dictionary definition
• Denotation


  literal dictionary definition
• Polemic (Greek for “hostile”)


  establishing superiority of one option over the others
• Propaganda


  the spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In a negative sense: uses rumor, lies, disinformation, etc.
• Logos (Greek for “embodied thought”)


  clear rational ideas, thinking logically; have a clear main idea and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimonies
• Counterargument


  one specific way to appeal to logos. Types: refutation, concession
• Concession


  agree that opposition is true or reasonable
• Refutation


  deny all or part of the argument