Persuasion and
Rhetoric
English II Pre-AP
Harris, Hubbard & Justice
“It’s a contradiction.”
How is argument defined here?
Debating Media Debate.
What constitutes a real argument?
Argument.
• Persuasion (Argumentation) is attempting to sway the
opinions or actions of its audience.
• Rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively as a
means of communication or persuasion
Persuasion & Rhetoric
• A writer uses the three appeals
in order to convince the
audience that his/her
perspective is the best.
• Ethos (ethical): appeals to the
author’s credibility
• Pathos (emotional): appeal to
the reader’s emotions
• Logos (logical): appeal to logic
or reason
The Appeals
• Based on facts and figures
• Anything with numbers, statistics, graphs and charts
• Rational, logical arguments (If…then…)
• Strength: Difficult to argue against facts
• Weakness: Some people aren’t easily swayed, regardless
of the logic; People can make things up or manipulate
data to their own ends.
• Verizon
• ATT
Logos
• Based on the Author’s Credibility
• What has the author gone through that helps him/her know
about this subject?
• Patriotism, Team Spirit
• Call to be part of the group, to fight for your people
• Religion
• Call to a higher purpose
• Strength: Persuasion can occur quickly if people hold the
same values
• Weakness: Doesn’t work if people don’t hold the
same ideals
Ethos
• Based on the emotions the author makes you feel (Anger,
Jealousy, Humor).
• Language choice (diction) is an easy way to create Pathos
• From Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech: “One
hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled
by the manacles of segregation and the chains of
discrimination.”
• Strength: A very powerful persuasive device
• Weakness: It is an easy argument to break down as it is not based
on any fact or data – it is generally manipulation of the audience.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc
Pathos
• Rhetorical fallacy: an argument that is not sound, but is still
convincing. A manipulation of the appeals to bring the audience
to a potentially inappropriate conclusion.
• Divided into three categories based on the appeal it is manipulating
• Logical: depends on faulty logic (defective reasoning)
• Emotional: appeals to the audience’s emotions
• Ethical: unjustly advances the speaker’s credibility
Fallacy
• Bandwagon: asserts that, since the majority of people believes
an argument, the argument must be true. (Logical)
• Ex: “85% of consumers purchase IBM computers rather than Macs.
All those people can’t be wrong, so IBM must make the best
computers.”
• Exaggeration (Logical or Emotional)
• Stereotyping (Logical)
• Red herring: a deliberate attempt to change the subject or divert
the argument from the real question at issue to some side-point
(Logical)
• Ex: “Senator Jones should not be held accountable for cheating on
his income tax. After all, there are other senators who have done
far worse things.”
Fallacies
• Ad hominem: an attack against an opponent’s character instead
of against the opponent’s argument (Logical)
• Hasty generalization: Mistaken use of inductive reasoning
where there are too few samples to prove a point (Logical)
• Ex: Susan failed Biology 101. Herman failed Biology 101. Eddie
failed Biology 101. If a student takes Biology 101, he/she will fail
it.
Fallacies, cont.
• Appeal to authority (Ethical)
• To improper authority: An appeal to someone who is not actually an
authority on an issue. Tries to capitalize on the respect/admiration
people have for the source
• Ex: a celebrity or unreliable source
• To biased authority: the person/source is knowledgeable on the
subject, but may have personal/professional motivations that make his
judgments suspicious
• False need: discusses a need that isn’t really there. (Logical)
• False cause (Post Hoc): creates a cause/effect relationship that
isn’t really there (Logical)
Fallacies, cont.
• Appeals to pity: when an author tries to use emotion, particularly
pity, merely for the sake of getting the reader to accept what should
be a logical conclusion (Emotional)
• Ex: In the 1880s, prosecutors in a case had undeniable evidence that a
boy had killed his parents; however, the jury found him not “guilty”
based on the fact that he was now an orphan, and had no one to look
after him
• Scare tactics: an attempt to sway the audience by causing them to
fear what might happen if they don’t do/think what you want
(Emotional)
• Ex: "You know, Professor Smith, I really need to get an A in this class.
I'd like to stop by during your office hours later to discuss my grade.
I'll be in your building anyway, visiting my father. He's your dean, by
the way. I'll see you later."
Fallacies, cont.
• Begging the question: If the writer assumes as evidence to his/her
claim the very thing that he/she is trying to prove (Logical)
• Ex: Useless courses like English 101 should be dropped from the
college curriculum.
• Non sequitur: any argument that does not follow from the
previous statements. Usually occurs because the writer skips a
step in his/her argument. (Logical)
• Ex: Giving up our nuclear arsenal in the 1980s weakened our military.
Giving up nuclear weaponry also weakened China in the 1990s. For
this reason, it is wrong to try to outlaw pistols and rifles in the United
States today.
Fallacies, cont.
• http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-282007/immigrant-disease
• http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-272001/stephen-wins-
Examples
• CSCOPE Instructional Focus Document
• http://www.merriam-webster.com
• http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/fallacies_list.html
• http://engl.niu.edu/wac/persuade.html
Sources