Deliberative, Forensic, and Demonstrative Rhetoric

1. Deliberative, Forensic, and Demonstrative Rhetoric Advanced Rhetorical Writing Matt Barton

2. Deliberative • Useful in politics. • Concerned with the future • Exhortation • Exhortation: “Strongly urging someone to do something” • The goal is the expedient or advantageous. • Uses examples as primary strategy. • “We should follow the example set by our forefathers in standing up to a dictator…”

3. Deliberative Topics • Five categories of politics: • Ways and means • War and peace • National defense • Imports and exports • Legislation • Political orators must show that decisions will lead to happiness (eudemonia) and good.

4. Governments • orators must consider the type of government and customs, institutions, and interests of each: • Democracy: Freedom • Oligarchy: Wealth • Aristocracy: Education and Institutions • Monarchy: Protection of Tyrant

5. Forensic • Useful in law courts. • Concerned with the past • Accusation and defense • The goal is justice. • Uses enthymemes as primary strategy. • “We found him standing over the corpse with a smoking gun in his hand and a guilty expression on his face.” • He committed a murder; murder is a crime punishable by law.

6. Forensic Topics • The forensic speaker should understand the reasons why people do wrong. • Wrongdoing: When someone willfully violates the law (or inflicts harm). • Seven causes of human action: • Chance, Nature, Compulsion (involuntary) • Habit, reasoning, anger, appetite (voluntary) • People seek the “pleasant”: “A movement by which the soul is consciously brought into its normal state of being; Pain is its opposite.”

7. Law and Wrongdoing • What are the two types of law? • Natural law (unwritten) • Written law (written or official) • When do people do wrong? • When they think that • They won’t get caught. • They can get away with it. • It’ll be worth it. • What makes one crime worse than another?

8. “Inartistic Proofs” • Forensic orators can use • Laws • Witnesses • Contracts • Tortures • Oaths

9. Demonstrative (epideictic) • Useful in awards, commendations, various types of ceremonies. • Concerned with present. • Praise and censure • Goal is honor (or dishonor) • Uses amplification as primary strategy.

10. Forms of Virtue • Justice • Courage • Temperance • Magnificence • Ability to spend money wisely and fruitfully • Magnanimity • “Doing good to others on a grand scale” • Liberality • Gentleness • Prudence • Wisdom

11. Demonstrative • Concerned with virtue and vice • Which virtues are the greatest? • Uses “amplification” • Compare deeds of the person to great deeds of historical or legendary figures • Compare person directly to such figures. • Abraham Lincoln fought to free the slaves; George W. fights to free the citizens of Iraq. • “Sadaam Hussein is a greater threat to our freedom than Adolf Hitler ever was.”

12. Class Exercise • Deliberative: • Compose a statement concerning whether SCSU students should pay for a campus subscription to turnitin.com plagiarism detection service • Forensic: • Your friend has been accused of turning in a plagiarized paper (select one). First invent the details of the situation, then compose statements arguing both sides of the case. • Demonstrative: • A good friend has recently been convicted of plagiarizing a paper. Furthermore, this friend was president of a fraternity and an honor student. You have been asked to make a speech concerning his character. Write a statement either praising or condemning him.