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Rhetoric

Rhetoric. meaning of rhetoric. *Negative Connotations ▪Deceptive or fraudulent; manipulative: appealing to emotions or prejudices (ex: Hitler, politicians) ▪Socrates and Plato – criticized sophists for emphasizing style; rhetoric deals exclusively with language rather than ideas

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Rhetoric

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  1. Rhetoric

  2. meaning of rhetoric • *Negative Connotations • ▪Deceptive or fraudulent; manipulative: appealing to emotions or prejudices (ex: Hitler, politicians) • ▪Socrates and Plato – criticized sophists for emphasizing style; rhetoric deals exclusively with language rather than ideas • *Positive Connotations • ▪Declaration of Independence • ▪Great literature

  3. meaning of rhetoric • The meaning of rhetoric is culturally determined and changes with the times: • style and delivery • a skill with words • book • grammar • discourse / language • “contemporary uses of language in a complex society” (Lindemann 52) • Those who believe rhetoric is useful see it as a tool, neither inherently good or bad.

  4. Rhetorical choices • “Rhetoric implies choices …. We make decisions about our subject, audience, point of view, purpose, and message. We select our best evidence, the best order in which to present our ideas, and the best resources of language to express them [to induce cooperation]” (Lindemann 41).

  5. Rhetoric and audience • “However, the notion of choice carries with it an important ethical responsibility. Our strategies must be reasonable and honest. Furthermore, the audience must have a choice in responding to the message, must be able to adopt, modify, or reject it. A burglar who holds a gun to my head and calmly expresses an intention to rob me may induce my cooperation, but not by means of rhetoric, Similarly, a formal argument that urges human beings not to age is not rhetorical …. Rhetoric is inoperative when the audience lacks the power to respond freely to message” (Lindemann 41).

  6. Classical rhetoric • Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle: • Audience • Speaker • Subject • Components are connected and interdependent.

  7. appeals • *Logos - reason • *Ethos - credibility • *Pathos - emotion • Appeals often overlap.

  8. Context, purpose, intention • Purpose – underlies a writer’s decisions • Context – the situation in which writing and reading occur; controlling ideas are often topical and concerned with current events. • Intention –embodied in the thesis statement but carried throughout the piece.

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