Argument Vocab
Aristotle's rhetorical triangle
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The study and art of using language effectively.
The rhetorical triangle sets out the
guidelines for persuading someone:
•Pathos-Appeals to your feelings.
•Ex. "My dog just died so I couldn't do my homework!"
•Ethos- Appeals to someones sense of honesty or authority.
•Ex. "I swear on my life that is the truth."
•Logos- Appeals to someone's sense of logic.
• Ex. I didn't have internet so i couldn't do my homework on
google docs.
Argument
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- verbal opposition; a process of reasoning or
disagreement where different point of view are
expressed.
Ex. Explaining to a parent that your curfew should be
later.
Often used in debates, judicial trials, and in simple
everyday communication.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
Evidence
•- proof of something that can prove or
disprove a point of view. It is the basis of
stressing or asserting a standpoint.
Ex. Cookies were stolen from a cookie jar.
All that is left is a chocolate fingerprint on
the table.
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Warrant
•-authorization or justification to do
something. Warrants are only granted when
there is strong suspision or evidenc.
Ex. A mom going into her child's bedroom
without permission. Her justification is that
she is a mother(it may also be her house).
Warrants allow police to access personal
property.
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•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
"Warrant"
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Well I've been judged I've been a bug unknown
I know all about it but my heart is strong
I've been away been running to save my head
Yeah the warrant's out and I'm almost dead
I won't say what I've already said
[x2:]
Got to get away
Yeah, the warrants on my head
Got to get away
They want me alive or dead
I've thought a lot about the way that they fight
Come through the phone lines, not man enough to face me
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I can stop or argue about what they say
Yeah the warrant's out and I'm not gonna pay
I said what I'm gonna say
[x2:]
Got to get away
Yeah, the warrants on my head
Got to get away
They want me alive or dead
Fear is like a fake friend
It warms you up and takes you in
You mouth the words but no sound comes out
Fear is like your best friend
Manipulates and takes you in
You mouth the words
No sound again
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But you don't know better
You don't know better
[x4:]
Got to get away
Yeah, the warrants on my head
Got to get away
They want me alive or dead
Rhetoric
• -the study or ability to use effective language
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or means of persusion; the use of prose
instead of verse.
Ex. When you consider all the cons, it seems
to me that all the pros out weigh them.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Dtmh
k6vJw
Speaker
• -a person who communicates in a formal way
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with a sometimes large audience.
-The speaker hold the audience's attention
during an arguement, debate, etc.
Ex. The president making his inauguration
speech to the United States upon entering
office as the president to let people know
what he has done and what he is going to do.
Context
• -parts of a written or spoken body of words
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that surround a particular event, situation,
etc.
Ex. I go to the gym every morning.
Sometimes it is cold, sometimes it is not. I
enjoy running on the track. The gym is the
best!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7P7uZ
Confirmation
• -to make a words certain; something that
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supports, validates, or verifies the subject or
concept.
Ex. Yes, we are going to school tomorrow.
Fallacy
• -a statement or argument based on a false or
invalid inference
Fallacy Continued...
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Slippery Slope
• -a course of action that seems to lead
inevitably from one action or result to
another with unintended consequences
Slippery Slope Continued...
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Hasty Generalization
• -a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by
reaching an inductive generalization based on
insufficient evidence
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Ex. “The two weightlifters I have met both
take steroids. Therefore, all weightlifters
take steroids.”
Hasty Generalization
Continued...
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Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
• the logical fallacy of believing that temporal
succession implies a causal relation.
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Ex. “Crime rate has increased since drugs
have become illegal.”
Post Hoc Ergo Proctor Hoc
Continued...
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Genetic Fallacy
• -the fallacy of confusing questions of validity
and logical order with questions of origin and
temporal order.
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Ex. “Most Christians become Christians
because their parents are.”
Genetic Fallacy Continued...
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Begging the Claim
• -Begging the claim is what one does in an
argument when one assumes what one
claims to be proving.
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Ex. “Abortion is the unjustified killing of a
human being and as such is murder.
Murder is illegal. So abortion should be
illegal.”
Begging the Claim Continued...
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Circular Argument
• -a discussion that makes a conclusion based
on material that has already been assumed in
the argument
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Ex. "You can't give me a C! I'm an A
student!"
Circular Argument Continued...
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Either/Or
• -logical fallacy in which the writer states that
only two alternatives exist when in fact there
are more than two
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Ex. A mother may tell her child: "Eat your
broccoli or you won't get desert."
Ex."Either you are part of the problem or
part of the solution."
Ad Hominem
•-logical fallacy in which the writer attacks the
person who presents the issue rather than deal
logically with the issue itself.
Ad Hominem Continued...
Bandwagon
• -a party, cause, movement, etc., that by its
mass appeal, or strength readill attracts
followers.
Bandwagon continued...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fG1bKgQo&feature=player_embedded
Appeal to Reason
• -To seek to persuade or to reason with
someone through the use of logical argument or
discourse.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thzUR_mq
6OY&feature=player_embedded
Bait and Switch
• - A form of fraud, most commonly used in
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retail sales but applicable to other contexts.
First, customers are baited by advertising for a
product or service at a low price. Second, the
customers discover that an advertised good is
not available and are switched to a costlier
product.
Ex. An advertisement for a free chicken
sandwich, but you actually have to purchase a
side of fries and a drink.
McDonald's Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9tyT-fuAA&feature=player_embedded
Stereotyping
• - A popular belief about specific types of
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individuals that are unusually unjust or
unfair
Ex. All women are bad drivers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sjld5yy3Q&feature=player_embedded
Biased or Prejudicial Statements
• - When a statement reflects a partiality,
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preference, or prejudice for or against a
person, object or an idea.
Ex. The association that black people are
more related to crime.
Logos
• -Appeal to logic and reason.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP9tkpM
RD9s&feature=player_embedded
Ethos
•-The guiding belief or ideals that characterize
a nation, community, or ideology.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgVzAMQ
sP5o&feature=player_embedded
Pathos
• -Using words, objects, or ideas to create an
emotional reaction.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ_vcv5I_
KA&feature=player_embedded
Ad Populum
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-Latin for "appeal to the people"; a technique of
persuading an audience by appealing to a common belief.
Ex. "But officer, I don't deserve a ticket; everyone goes
this speed. If I went any slower, I wouldn't be going with
the stream of traffic."
Hiter lid th Germans about how the Jews were bad and
should be exterminated. They beleved him and killed
millions in the Holocaust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXXdXhNoDD4&list=
FLbTCj4O_J5n5m17MKCLb43A&index=1&feature=plpp
_video
Red Herring
• -Figurative expression in which a clue or piece
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of information is intended to be misleading, or
distracting from the actual question; the
informal fallacy of presenting an argument
that may in itself be valid, but does not address
the issue in question.
"I think there is great merit in making the
requirements stricter for the graduate
students. I recommend that you support it,
too. After all, we are in a budget crisis and we
do not want our salaries affected."
Straw Man
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-Also known as an "Aunt Sally"; component of an
argument and is an informal fallacy based on
misrepresentation of an opponent's position; to "attack a
straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a
proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet
equivalent proposition and refuting it without ever
having, actually refuting the original position.
"Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack
submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't
understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like
that."
Moral Equivalence
• -A term used in political debates, usually to
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criticize any denial that a moral hierarchy can
be assessed of two sides in a conflict or in the
actions or tactics of two sides.
Claiming that Nazism wasn't as bad as
Communism, by drawing a moral
equivalence between the Holocaust, and the
mass deaths under Mao's Great Leap
Forward, Stalin's purges and gulags, and Pol
Pot's killing fields.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqPzW63EWwc
Assertion/Claim
•-The declaration of an idea to persuade an
audience toward a particular belief; somethg
declared or stated positively, often wth no
support or attempt at proof.
Ex. "All men are created equal."
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Toulmin Method
• -Created by British philosopher Stephen
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Toulmin; an informal method of reasoning
that involves the data, claim, and warrant of
an argument; identified elements of a good
persuassive argument.
Ex. "I drove last time, so this time it is your
turn to drive."
Rogerian Method
• - Developed by Carl Rogers, an American
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psyhologist; a conflict solving technique
based on finding common ground instead of
polarizing debate; a negotiating strategy in
which opposing views are described
objectively and common goals are identified
to reach agreement.
"We both agree that littering is destructive."
Hegelian Method
• -A method of argumentation or exposition
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that systematically weighs contradictory facts
or ideas with a view to the resolution of their
real or apparent contradictions; the
philosophy of Hegel that places reality in
ideas instead of things.
"... the State 'has the supreme right against
the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a
member of the State... for the right of the
world spirit is above all special privileges.'"
Summation
•-The process of adding or pulling things together in the
final stages of an argument, speech, etc.; a concluding part
of a speech or argument containg a summary of principle
points.
Ex. A jury's closing speech before the reading of the
verdict.
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Concession
• -Something, such as a point previously
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claimed in an argument that is later conceded
by means of an admission.
Ex. Writer's opposition: Smoking should be
banned in public places.
Opposing argument: An individual's right to
freedom should not be curtailed
Concession: An individual may have the
right to action, but not at the expense of
others.
Qualify
• -Using specific words or phrases to make a
sentence less strong or less generalized.
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Ex. Qualifying words: So to speak, Almost,
In a way, practically, to some extent.
The Testimonial
•-A form of formal statement testifying to
someone's character and qualificationsal
statement testifying to someone's character and
qualifications; a form of propaganda used to
make the audience accept anything.
Ex. Proactive commercials with testimonials
about their uncontrollable acne and about
how the product "worked miracles".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moPZNg2878&feature=relmfu
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The Testimonial Continued...
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• Ex. "When I feel tired, I take Mom's
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Ginseng and have energy to spare."
"I bought a car from Car Mart and they
treated me right."
Name Calling
• -Verbal abuse; a crude substitute for
argument.
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Ex. The ad is blatantly stating that this man
helped drug dealers escape prison. This is a
clear example of name calling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwhdDv
8VrM
Home Calling
•-A technique used by sales associates,
politicians, or companies to draw attention to
their product or themselves while making
others aware.
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Ex. Campaigning
Charity drives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGBUB8yj
2Ys&feature=player_embedded
Home Calling Continued...
Transfer
•-This is a technique of projecting positive or negative
qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or
value (an individual, group, organization, nation,
patriotism, etc.) to another in order to make the second
more acceptable or to discredit it.
This is an example of transfer because people see
Channing Tatum in this commercial. People like
Channing Tatum; therefore people will like Mountain
Dew. Or that’s the point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V43s0vOp7YM
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Glittering Generalities
•-This is a device by which the propagandist identifies his
program with virtue by use of "virtue words". This appeals to
our emotions of love, generosity, and brotherhood. This is a
device to make us accept and approve without examining
evidence.
Ex. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with the greatest pleasure
that I welcome you to this most auspicious of occasions.
We are gathered here on the brink of a challenge to which
we must all rise in concert, for not to do so would be to
accept despair, which I will never do and I know you will
never accept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfV3LqFBifw&feature=pl
ayer_embedded
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Plain folks
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-A Plain Folks argument is one in which the speaker
presents him or herself as a common person who can
understand and empathize with a listener's concerns; a
device used by politicians, labor leaders, and business
executives to win or confidence by appearing to be
people like ourselves.
Ex. A wealthy politician saying they understand that
times are hard and money is tight.
During election time, politicians ride buses to campaign.
They claim to be "small town people."
Plain Folks Continued...
http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v
=whHj1Hes7k8
&feature=player
_embedded
Card Stacking
•- a device in which one employs all arts of deception to
win over support for oneself, group, race, policy, belief, etc.;
a propaganda technique that seeks to manipulate audience
perception of an issue by emphasizing one side and
repressing another.
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Ex. Comparison between Apple Macintosh and
Windows computers.
Using one-sided testimonials.
Making sure opposed arguments are not heard.
Card Stacking Continued...
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiWTcVHd
SFo&feature=player_embedded