1 / 8

David A. Jolliffe 479.575.2289 djollif@uark uark/literacy

Understanding the Essential Appeals: Strategies for Teaching Logos in Rhetorical Analysis. David A. Jolliffe 479.575.2289 djollif@uark.edu www.uark.edu/literacy. What is status quo thinking about the three appeals?.

sukey
Download Presentation

David A. Jolliffe 479.575.2289 djollif@uark uark/literacy

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Understanding the Essential Appeals: Strategies for Teaching Logos in Rhetorical Analysis David A. Jolliffe 479.575.2289 djollif@uark.edu www.uark.edu/literacy

  2. What is status quo thinking about the three appeals? • Logos is seen as “the logical appeal,” the appeal to “reasons, statistics, facts,” and so on. • Ethos is seen as “the ethical appeal,” the appeal to the credibility and character of the writer or speaker. • Pathos is seen as “the emotional appeal,” the appeal to the emotions of the audience.

  3. What are the problems inherent in the status quo thinking? • Many students assert that a text “has” one or more of these appeals, in various degrees. Not so. A text appeals to logos, ethos, and/pathos. • Many students think that the three appeals are equal and that one can simply isolate the appeal to ethos, then logos, then pathos in an analysis. Not so . . .

  4. The wise alternative to status quo thinking: • Logos is the central appeal. • Any text that has a discernible point can be analyzed for its appeal to logos. • The appeal to logos is not necessarily an appeal to logic; it is an appeal to the logical structure of the argument. • What a speaker or writer does to appeal to his or her ethos and/or to the audience’s emotions emerges from the establishment of logos.

  5. Syllogisms, enthymemes, and the interactivity of logos, ethos, and pathos • Syllogism: Incontrovertible truth as major premise, specific instance as minor premise, and conclusion that follows. • Enthymeme: Assumption that you presume your audience accepts as generally unspoken major premise, specific instances of “data,” and sometimes stated but often inferred point or conclusion. • Note: Audience participates in meaning-making.

  6. For example . . . • Syllogism: All people who make more than $10,000 a year must pay federal income taxes; Joe Schmoe makes more than $10,000 a year; so Joe Schmoe must pay federal income taxes. • Enthymeme: Leading-edge industries are creating thousands of new jobs that most U.S. high school graduates are incapable of qualifying for; therefore, the education establishment should refocus its efforts and promote vocational education more fully.

  7. What’s the “take-home” for teaching rhetorical analysis? • Think about teaching students to analyze logos first by analyzing the central and supporting enthymemes. • Help students see that a speaker or writer’s credibility emerges from and thrives on his or her establishment of the argument’s structure. • Help students see that the audience’s emotions emerge in interaction with the establishment of the argument’s logos.

  8. David A. Jolliffe 479.575.2289 djollif@uark.edu www.uark.edu/literacy

More Related