What IS Rhetoric, Anyway?

1. What IS Rhetoric, Anyway? Some Basics about Rhetoric and Argument

2. Some Definitions • Rhetoric: the art of persuasive speaking and writing • Counterpart to dialectic • Dialectic: discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation; the Socratic techniques of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth • Argument: The process of making what we think clear to ourselves and to others • All language is a form of motivated action

3. Rhetoric and Argument are more than this:

4. Discourse Communities • The term discourse community links the terms discourse, a concept describing all forms of communication that contribute to a particular, instructionalized way of thinking; and community, which in this case refers to the people who use, and therefore help create, a particular discourse. Each discourse community has its own unwritten rules about what can be said and how it can be said. Most people move within and between different discourse communities every day. The term was first used by sociolinguist Martin Nystrand in 1982, and further developed by American linguist John Swales. Writing about the acquisition of academic writing styles of those who are learning English as an additional language, Swales presents six defining characteristics: • A discourse community: • has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. • has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. • uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. • utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. • in addition to owning genres, it has acquired some specific lexis. • has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

5. The Parlor • Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress. ~Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form

6. Aims of Argument Argument is not an end in and of itself, no matter what your obnoxious roommate/drunk friend/annoying Uncle Stan might attempt to prove A means of discourse

7. Language as Symbolic Action Because language is a human activity and because humans exist in a complex world of goals, purposes, and activities, language cannot be anything but motivated. In the words of Kenneth Burke, language is a form of “symbolic action”: it gets things done in the world, acting on people and situations. The weak version of this argument claims simply that language has effects in the world or that people use language to accomplish ends; most of us would have no difficulty accepting that proposition.

8. Creation of Identification All language is inherently a form of argument. People use language to create identification between themselves and their audience. The flip side of the argument that all language is motivated is powerful, too: all language is open to interpretation and negotiation. Production and analysis of language in this model require not just reason but also all the sensory faculties and an awareness of the rhetor’s and the audience’s history and experiences. Burke’s definition of language’s scope and power makes apparently simple activities—chatting with friends, reading the newspaper, writing a note to yourself—into scenes of argument and identification. We are all “wordlings,” made of language as much as users of it.

9. Argument: Seeking Clarity • Two part structure • Statement of an opinion • Statement of reasons for holding that opinion • Arguments need more than this, but this is the basic structure • Not an end to itself; arguments used to achieve something else

10. Arguing to Explore/Inquire • How we decide what we will accept as the truth about an issue • Requirements: • Attitude of patient questioning • Nonthreatening circumstances • Occurs mostly alone or among friends • Determining if there is, indeed, a problem • Argument to Explore = Invitational Argument • Sharing of ideas • No winner or loser – just exchange of thoughts • Dialogue

11. Arguing to Convince • We know what we believe (“I believe I am worth a raise”) and we want others to share our beliefs

12. Arguing to Persuade Arguing to Convince + 1 You know what you believe, you want others to believe it, but you also want them to act on it Argument (discovering a truth)  Conviction Persuasion (knowing a truth) Action

13. Arguing to Negotiate • This argument occurs AFTER we have attempted to convince an opponent of our case and to persuade that opponent to settle a conflict or dispute to our satisfaction. • “Agree to disagree” isn’t feasible here; we have to move to a conclusion • Another party is sometimes involved to mediate

14. Aims of Argument: Summary Inquiry: forming our opinions or questioning those we already have. The purpose is to find and articulate what is true for us. Convincing: gaining assent from others through case-making. Inquiry applies to what we think, convincing looks for reasons that will gain the assent of our audience. Persuasion: moving others to action through rational, emotional, personal, and stylistic appeals. Negotiation: exploring differences of opinion in the hope of reaching agreement and/or cooperation

15. Other Types of Argument Arguments to Meditate/Pray: Author/speaker hoping to transform something in himself, reach a state of equilibrium or a state of mind Arguments to Make Decisions: One way to make a decision is to argue your way through various alternatives Rogerian argument: Based on the theories of psychotherapist Carl Rogers; focuses on finding common ground and establishing trust among those who disagree about issues

16. Even More Types of Arguments • Stasis Arguments • Specific questions in a specific sequence • Did something happen? (Argument of fact) • What is its nature? (Argument of Definition) • What is its quality? (Argument of Evaluation) • What actions should be taken? (Proposal Arguments)

17. Rhetoric • Aristotle originally stated that rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking • Art = principles underlying some activity that require education, experience, and judgment • Rhetoric = art of speaking or writing well • Now we see it as the art of persuasive communication because it incorporates more than speaking

18. Three Basic Types of Appeals Ethos: Appeal based on the character of the author/speaker Pathos: Appeal to the emotions or sympathies of the audience Logos: Appeal to the audience’s reason and intellect through logic

19. Other Principles in Rhetoric For inventing and organizing argument Anticipating the needs of audiences Building logical cases Polishing style and language

20. Is Rhetoric Ethical? When used correctly, the speaker/author is required to respect the audience and to exhibit sensitivity to right and wrong Rhetoric can be insincere or manipulative; however, that is a misuse of rhetoric

21. Rhetorical Triangle

22. Now it’s your turn… • Can an argument really be any text that expresses a point of view? What kinds of arguments—if any—might be made by the following items? • The embossed leather cover of a prayer book • a Boston Red Sox cap • a Livestrong bracelet • the “explicit lyrics” label on a best-selling CD • The health warning on a package of cigarettes • a belated birthday card • the nutrition label on a can of soup