Warm-up
What is the best way to persuade someone?
Written or Spoken Word?
Explain your position
Persuasion Through Rhetoric
Words, Phrases, and Simple Assertions
A psychological point about
rhetoric and suggestion...
It’s a fact that even fleeting impressions may have
measurable influence on behavior.
A psychological point about
rhetoric and suggestion...
It’s a fact that even fleeting impressions may have
measurable influence on behavior.
The operation of such influences may occur below the
threshold of consciousness.
A psychological point about
rhetoric and suggestion...
It’s a fact that even fleeting impressions may have
measurable influence on behavior.
The operation of such influences may occur below the
threshold of consciousness.
The positive and negative impressions made by use of
rhetorical devices, while they may sometimes seem trivial, can
have powerful and long-lasting effects.
A psychological point about
rhetoric and suggestion...
It’s a fact that even fleeting impressions may have
measurable influence on behavior.
The operation of such influences may occur below the
threshold of consciousness.
The positive and negative impressions made by use of
rhetorical devices, while they may sometimes seem trivial, can
have powerful and long-lasting effects.
Critical thinking addresses influence of rhetoric in two ways:
(1) helps identify attempts at non-argumentative persuasion
(2) helps check “spontaneous” beliefs and impulses
Pathos
Under you pathos part – write the following
words with their definitions and perhaps
their examples.
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Words or phrases that are substituted for
other words or phrases to put what is being
discussed in a more positive or negative light
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Words or phrases that are substituted for
other words or phrases to put what is being
discussed in a more positive or negative light
Euphemism: “Used cars” become “pre-owned vehicles”.
Dysphemism: “Music” becomes “noise”.
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Words or phrases that are substituted for
other words or phrases to put what is being
discussed in a more positive or negative light
Euphemism: “Used cars” become “pre-owned vehicles”.
Dysphemism: “Music” becomes “noise”.
Note: Reports and descriptions may convey pleasant or
unpleasant information without being euphemistic or
dysphemistic. It’s the quality of the language that matters.
Innuendo
A suggestion that is made indirectly
Creates a negative impression (using indirect
language to create a positive impression is
usually better classed as understatement)
May be constructed by association with
something negative or by faint praise
Ways of speaking that depart positively or
negatively from a fair or neutral position
Problems of content, not of form
Loaded Question
Often a yes-no question or a false dilemma,
but could occur with any question form
Answering directly requires accepting or
presuming a questionable, hostile, or
unjustified assumption
May function similarly to innuendo
Loaded Question
Often a yes-no question or a false dilemma,
but could occur with any question form
Answering directly requires accepting or
presuming a questionable, hostile, or
unjustified assumption
May function similarly to innuendo
Example: Are you still abusing illegal drugs?
Example: Should we vote for the Democrat or the Repulican
in this election?
Example: What were you thinking when you attempted to
steal that CD?
Logos
 Using reasoning
Rhetorical Comparisons,
Definitions, and Explanations
Rhetorical Comparisons,
Definitions, and Explanations
Ways of speaking that depart positively or
negatively from a fair or neutral position
Problems of content, not of form
Comparison: The American revolutionaries used
tactics similar to those employed by the Viet Cong.
Rhetorical Comparisons,
Definitions, and Explanations
Ways of speaking that depart positively or
negatively from a fair or neutral position
Problems of content, not of form
Comparison: The American revolutionaries used
tactics similar to those employed by the Viet Cong.
Definition: religion - the opiate of the people
Rhetorical Comparisons,
Definitions, and Explanations
Ways of speaking that depart positively or
negatively from a fair or neutral position
Problems of content, not of form
Comparison: The American revolutionaries used
tactics similar to those employed by the Viet Cong.
Definition: religion - the opiate of the people
Explanation: Franklin stayed in France throughout
the revolution because he was a celebrity there.
Ethos
 A person’s reputation
Horse Laugh/Ridicule/Sarcasm
An attempt to weaken a claim or undermine
credibility by making an idea or person
appear ridiculous
Horse Laugh/Ridicule/Sarcasm
An attempt to weaken a claim or undermine
credibility by making an idea or person
appear ridiculous
May make use of other devices, e.g.,
hyperbole, slippery slope
Horse Laugh/Ridicule/Sarcasm
An attempt to weaken a claim or undermine
credibility by making an idea or person
appear ridiculous
May make use of other devices, e.g.,
hyperbole, slippery slope
Example: One thing I can say for Schwarzenegger, I bet he’s
not a complainer. So now we won’t have to listen to a lot of
complaining from the governor’s office while Bush’s friends
are looting California.
Horse Laugh/Ridicule/Sarcasm
An attempt to weaken a claim or undermine
credibility by making an idea or person
appear ridiculous
May make use of other devices, e.g.,
hyperbole, slippery slope
Example: One thing I can say for Schwarzenegger, I bet he’s
not a complainer. So now we won’t have to listen to a lot of
complaining from the governor’s office while Bush’s friends
are looting California.
Example: You don’t like how the PATRIOT Act expands
police powers? How about the next time you need help, try
calling a hippie.
Hyperbole
Use of exaggeration to make an impression of
greater importance or deviation from
expectations
Proof Surrogate
An assertion or strong suggestion that good
evidence exists somewhere out of reach to
support a claim
Proof Surrogate
An assertion or strong suggestion that good
evidence exists somewhere out of reach to
support a claim
May make use of listed, but unchecked or
unverifiable references
Proof Surrogate
An assertion or strong suggestion that good
evidence exists somewhere out of reach to
support a claim
May make use of listed, but unchecked or
unverifiable references
Example: Unnamed sources report that...
Example: Experts agree that...
Example: I read on the Internet that... (if used as evidence)
Parallelism
repeating a grammatical structure or an
arrangement of words to create a
sense of rhythm and momentum.
Ask not what your country can do for you
—ask what you can do for your country.
-JFK
Repetition
expressing different ideas using the same words
or images in
order to reinforce concepts and unify the
speech
“If you have an important point to make,
don’t try to be subtle or clever.
Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then
come back and hit it again. Then hit it a
third time – a tremendous whack.”
Rhetorical question
is not answered by the author because its
answer is obvious or obviously desired,
and usually just a yes or no. It is used for
effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for
drawing a conclusionary statement from
the facts at hand.
Rhetorical Question Example:
 Books are useless! I
 only ever read one
 book, To Kill A
 Mockingbird, and it
 gave me absolutely no
 insight on how to kill
 mockingbirds! Sure it
 taught me not to judge
 a man by the color of
 his skin . . . but what
 good does that do me?
Homer uses rhetorical questions
 Mother Simpson: [singing] How many roads must a man
 walk down before you can call him a man?
 Homer: Seven.
 Lisa: No, dad, it's a rhetorical question.
 Homer: OK, eight.
 Lisa: Dad, do you even know what "rhetorical" means?
 Homer: Do I know what "rhetorical" means?
 Questions:
 How many rhetorical questions appear in this
 dialogue? What is dialogue?
Proposition, Affirmative, Negative
Worksheet
The Affirmative Position
 The affirmative acts as an
advocate (agent) for changing
the present system.
 The affirmative must uphold the
burden of proof, overcome
presumption, and present a
prima facie case.
Affirmative The Burden of Proof
 Affirmative must provide
sufficient reason for adopting the
change (proposition)
 Affirmative insists that
something in the present system
is not working
 If they do not prove this, there is
no reason to change
Worksheet
In groups, use the dictionary and define the
words.
Civil Disobedience
Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil
Government) is an essay by American
transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was
first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that
individuals should not permit governments to
overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that
they have a duty to avoid allowing such
acquiescence to enable the government to make
them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was
motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and
the Mexican-American War.
Labor Union
Labor unions in the United States are
legally recognized as representatives of
workers in many industries.
Sharecropper
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in
which a landowner allows a tenant to use
the land in return for a share of the crop
produced on the land (e.g. 50% of the crop).
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in
the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965.
They mandated de jure racial segregation in all
public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but
equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this
led to treatment and accommodations that were
usually inferior to those provided for white
Americans, systematizing a number of economic,
educational and social disadvantages.
Exit Slip:
 • We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can
come into being without it? What does Nature hold
dearer, or more proper to herself? Could you have a hot
bath unless the firewood underwent some change?
Could you be nourished if the food suffered no change?
Do you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the
same order, and no less necessary to Nature?
Marcus Aurelius
 How many rhetorical questions appear in the above
 paragraph? How do you know these are rhetorical?
Warm-up after lunch:
What would make up an editorial?
Page 670
Homework:
Come up with your own editorial ideas and
have two for tomorrow at the start of class.