Mr. Coyne
 You
need a section in your notebook for
argument
 To
begin with, set up a page like this:
 Rhetoric
is the art of persuasion; a set of
tactics used to persuade
 Short
history of argument
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCNKREL67rg
 Argument
tactics ( the art of rhetoric)
consist of

Author/Audience/Purpose, and
 Logic,
Ethics, and Emotion
 Who
 Who
is speaking. What is their background?
are they at this moment, on this
occasion?
 Who
is listening?
 Are
they friendly or hostile to what the
author has to say?
 Is
the author/audience a good match?
 What
is the author trying to put forth to the
audience?
 Is
she or he making an argument/trying to be
persuasive?
 Or
simply “preaching to the choir”
 Greek
word for
Logical appeal
 An argument tactic
that would include
facts, stats, and
evidence.
 “4 out of 5 doctors
agree that…”
 “But Captain…”
 Greek
word for Ethical Appeal, or an appeal
to character, morals, values
 An
argument tactic that would appeal to
your sense of what is right and wrong
 Political
speeches are filled with ethos: “A
good American would…”
 Sense
of Credibility provides ethos as well,
and this comes from your reputation or your
performance
 Ethos
helps people believe you. If your
argument is well written, this can help
provide a sense of ethos
 Nobel
2003
Prize Winner
 Ice
T has credibility as
a rapper, actor, and
public figure.
 This gives him Ethos.
 Pathos
is a Greek word that means Emotion
 This persuasive tactic might include pictures,
words, etc. that appeal to your emotional
side

“Save the Arctic Seals!”
Topic/Message
(Logical Appeals)
Context
Audience/Readers
(Emotional Appeals)
Speaker/Writer
(Ethical Appeals)
A
good argument tries to have equal amounts
of logos, ethos, pathos.
 Too
much or little of one of the 3 can make
your argument unbalanced
 Bored
to tears with facts/stats
 Lose credibility by not seeming human (like
Spock)
 Not everybody understands the data
 Data is not human, has no credibility on its
own (without interpretation)
 Lose
your audience by being too full of
morals/values with nothing else
 Your audience might think you are full of
yourself
 Relying too much on your credibility will
diminish your credibility
 Pulling
on heartstrings only without facts and
judgment to back it up can lose your
audience by
 “Compassion fatigue…”
 Where’s the data?
 Who are you anyway?
 Takes
into account Author, Audience,
Purpose, Logos, Ethos, Pathos in EQUAL
Measure
 AAPPLE
 Try
to think of everything that you read and
write as an argument
 It is making a case for something
 A work of fiction is arguing for a certain
reality
 Ads,
movies, stop signs, anything visual uses
the tools of rhetoric in the same way
 Color, shape, background, imagery all add to
an argument
 Political propaganda tries to make a visual
argument…
 Watch
out for these elements when you are
reading an ad, newspaper editorial, or
 Listening
to Political commentators and
especially Politicians themselves!
 Sharpen
your tools of
rhetoric!