ARISTOTLE RHETORIC I AND II

Rhetoric is one of the three key elements—along with logic (word/reason) and dialectic
(dialogue, testing of knowledge through this, NOT to influence or move)—of philosophy:
"Rhetoric is a counterpart (antistrophos) of dialectic." (I.1.1)

2 tripartite divisions:

A. Species (eidē) of public speech: deliberative (Rhet. I.4–8, as in the assembly, advising
listener to do something or warns listener against doing something in the future),
forensic/judicial (Rhet. I.10–14, accuse or defend a past action), and epideictic (Rhet.
I.9, praise or blame, also self-display, in the present).
B. Means of persuasion: Ethos, pathos, logos.

"Of the [modes of persuasion] provided through speech there are three species: for some are in
the character of the speaker, and some are in disposing the listener in some way, and some in the
argument itself, by showing or seeming to show something" --Aristotle, On Rhetoric, 1356b
(trans. George A. Kennedy)

In other words, Aristotle argues that there are three elements to the art of persuasion:

• ethos: The rhetor is perceived by the audience as credible (or not).

• pathos: The rhetor attempts to persuade the audience by making them feel certain
emotions.

• logos: The rhetor attempts to persuade the audience by the use of arguments that
they will perceive as logical.

We call these three elements rhetorical appeals. It's not necessary for every act of persuasion to
make use of all three appeals. Often, however, there is some element of each. In academic
writing, ethos and logos are given more respect than pathos. An essay that relies primarily on
pathos, with little use of ethos or logos, is unlikely to be perceived by an academic audience as
persuasive. Below, each of these appeals is explained in more detail.

Ethos (character of speaker)

The use of ethos is called an "ethical appeal." Note that this is very different from our usual
understanding of the word "ethical." "Ethos" is used to describe the audience's perception of the
rhetor's credibility or authority. The audience asks themselves, "What does this person know
about this topic?" and "Why should I trust this person?" There are two kinds of ethos:

• extrinsic (the character, expertise, education, and experience of the rhetor), and
 • instrinsic (how the rhetor writes or speaks).

Pathos (emotional state of listener)

The use of pathos is called a "pathetic appeal." Note that this is very different from our usual
understanding of the word "pathetic." "Pathos" is used to describe the rhetor's attempt to appeal
to "an audience's sense of identity, their self-interest, and their emotions." If the rhetor can create
a common sense of identity with their audience, then the rhetor is using a pathetic appeal. (This
is also why so many politicans will open their speeches with "My friends..." so much when
speaking to audiences.)”Pathos" most often refers to an attempt to engage an audience's
emotions: they include: love, pity, sorrow, affection, anger, fear, greed, lust, and hatred. If a
rhetor tries to make an audience feel emotions in response to what is being said or written, then
they are using pathos. Sometimes, the pathetic appeal is weak (meaning it probably won't
succeed). Sometimes, the pathetic appeal is strong (meaning it probably will succeed). One also
needs to check whether one is preaching to the choir: "[a]s Socrates used to say, it is not difficult
to praise Athenians in Athens" (Rhetoric,1367b).

Logos (the argument itself)

The use of logos is called a "logical appeal." A statement does not have to be considered logical
to be a logical appeal. As an observer, you can recognize that the rhetor is attempting to use
logos to persuade the audience, but that recognition doesn't mean the rhetor is succeeding. We
use the term logos to describe what kind of rhetorical appeal is being made, not to evaluate
whether or not an appeal makes sense to us (as observers) or to the audience being addressed.
"Logos" is the use of the strategies of logic to persuade your audience. If any statement attempts
to persuade the audience by making a reasonable claim and offering proof in support of that
claim (rather than by trying to make them feel certain emotions, or by making them perceive the
speaker as credible), then that statement is a logical argument.

There are many ways of making logical arguments. Here are a few common strategies:

Cause or consequence

A claim about one thing causing another, or one thing being caused by another.

Example: Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases being produced by humankind.

Analogy

A claim about the qualities of one thing using a comparison about another thing.

Example: The ozone layer of the atmosphere is like the outer layer of skin on the human body,
and if it goes away, planet Earth will be in a lot of pain.

Example: "George Bush taking credit for the Berlin Wall coming down is like the rooster taking
credit for the sunrise." (Al Gore, 1992 Vice Presidential Debate)

Testimony and authority

A claim that involves citing the opinion of someone other than the rhetor, someone respected by
the audience.

Example: 4 out of 5 Dentists surveyed would recommend salt in toothpaste.

Definition

A claim about the meaning or nature of something.

Example: Marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

Syllogism

A claim using deductive logic involving a major premise, a minor premise, and conclusion. This
is a move from the general to the specific.

Example: Nuclear power plants generate dangerous nuclear waste, the new power plant they're
planning to build in our community is a nuclear power plant. So the new power plant will be
dangerous.

Support a generalization with examples

A claim using inductive logic, where a general statement about something is backed up by
specific examples.

Example: In the second presidential debate of 2008, Senator John McCain emphasized his own
good judgment in this way: "And I am convinced that my record, going back to my opposition
from sending the Marines to Lebanon, to supporting our efforts in Kosovo and Bosnia and the
first Gulf War, and my judgment, I think, is something that ... I'm willing to stand on."
Example: In the second presidentail debate of 2008, Senator Barack Obama argued that the
United States should maintain good relations with other nations in order to make the best use of
our own military resources in a time of economic constraint. He then illustrated his general
statement with this specific example: "Let's take the example of Darfur just for a moment. Right
now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in
Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We could be providing
logistical support, setting up a no-fly zone at relatively little cost to us, but we can only do it if
we can help mobilize the international community and lead."

Combining all 3 rhetorical appeals

Seldom is any one statement an example of only one appeal.

"I have to tell you that if you don't stop smoking, you're going to die,” said the doctor to her
patient.

This statement combines all three appeals:

• Extrinsic ethos: the rhetor--a doctor--is an expert on the subject

• Pathos: attempting to make the audience feel fear

• Logos: using the strategy of "Cause or Consequence"

If a rhetor tries to make an audience feel emotions (love, pity, sorrow, affection, anger, fear,
greed, lust, and hatred) in response to what is being said or written, then they are using pathos.

ROMAN INTERVENTIONS

The Five Canons of Rhetoric

The Five Canons were brought together and organized by the Roman orator Cicero, in his
treatise, De Inventione, written around 50 BC. 150 years later in 95 AD, the Roman rhetorician
Quintilian explored the Five Canons in more depth in his landmark 12-volume textbook on
rhetoric, Institutio Oratoria. His textbook, and consequently the Five Canons of Rhetoric, went
on to become the backbone of rhetorical education well into the medieval period.
The Five Canons of Rhetoric are:

 INVENTIO (invention): The process of developing and refining your arguments. Most
important phase of a composition. 2 major procedures to help with this: Stasis and topoi.

 STASIS is a procedure designed to help a rhetorician develop and clarify the main
points of his argument. Stasis consists of four types of questions a speaker asks
himself. They are:
Questions of fact: What is it exactly that I’m talking about? Is it a person? An
idea? A problem? Does it really exist? What’s the source of the problem? Are
there facts to support the truth of this opinion?
Questions of definition: What’s the best way to define this idea/object/action?
What are the different parts? Can it be grouped with similar ideas/objects/actions?
Questions of quality: Is it good or bad? Is it right or wrong? Is it frivolous or
important?
Questions of procedure/jurisdiction: Is this the right venue to discuss this topic?
What actions do I want my reader/listener to take?
 TOPOI (Topics of Invention). Consist of a set of categories that are designed to
help a writer or speaker find relationships among ideas, which in turn helps
organize her/his thoughts into a solid argument. Aristotle organized the different
rhetorical topics in his treatise The Art of Rhetoric. He divided the topics into two
large categories: common and special. Some common topics are:
Definition. In any rhetorical debate, definitions are vital. Whoever can
dictate and control the meaning of a word or idea, will typically win. The
topic of definition requires an author to determine how he would classify
the idea, what its substance is, and to what degree it has that substance
Comparison. Helps to explore and organize. But the real power of
comparison lies in its ability to help develop powerful analogies and
metaphors that stick with the audience.
Cause and Effect.
Circumstance. This topic looks at what is possible or impossible based on
circumstances. With the topic of circumstance, you can also attempt to
draw conclusions on future facts or events by referring to events in the
past. “I know the sun will rise tomorrow because it has risen every day for
thousands of years,” is a very simple example of the topic of circumstance
in action.
 DISPOSITIO (arrangement): The process of arranging and organizing your arguments
for maximum impact. Classical rhetoricians divided a speech into six different parts.
They are:

 Introduction (exordium): 2 aspects: introducing topic and establishing

credibility (see ethos above)

 Statement of Facts (narratio): background information to provide context for

one’s argument.

 Division (partitio): Quintilian taught that after stating your facts, the most
effective way to transition into your argument is with a partitio: a summary of
the arguments you’re about to make. A sitemap, so to speak.

 Proof (confirmatio): main argument. Construct logical arguments (see logos)

based on facts.

 Refutation (refutatio): highlight vulnerabilities in own argument. This gives you

deniability by anticipating criticism (use of ethos, increases rhetor’s fallibility
and likeability, and consequently credibility).

 Conclusion (peroratio): summing up powerfully and memorably, appeal to

pathos. See the finish to Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech.

 ELOCUTIO (style): The process of determining HOW you present your arguments
using figures of speech and other rhetorical techniques. The Five Virtues of Style are:
Correctness, Clarity, Evidence (different from logical evidence: use of vivid description
to appeal to emotion), Propriety (choosing vocabulary appropriate for subject and
audience) and Ornateness (Embellishments. Figures of speech fall under this. See below
for some important figures of speech).

 MEMORIA (memory): The process of learning and memorizing your speech so you can
deliver it without the use of notes. Memory-work not only consisted of memorizing the
words of a specific speech, but also storing up famous quotes, literary references, and
other facts that could be used in impromptu speeches.
 ACTIO (delivery): The process of practicing how you deliver your speech using
gestures, pronunciation, and tone of voice.

ELOCUTIO

IMPORTANT FIGURES OF SPEECH

Consonance: the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighbouring

words whose vowel sounds are different (e.g. coming home,
hotfoot). Consonance may be regarded as the counterpart to the vowel-sound
repetition known as assonance. Alliteration (see below) and sibilance (repetition
of sibilant sounds s/sh: She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore) are 2 kinds of
consonance.

Alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds in the stressed syllable):

“few flocked to the fight”

The raven, Rime of the ancient mariner

Assonance: Resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising

particularly from the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels, but not consonants
(e.g. sonnet, porridge), but also from the use of identical consonants with different
vowels (e.g. killed, cold, culled).

"Hear the mellow wedding bells" by Edgar Allen Poe.

"Soft language issued from their spitless lips as they swished in low circles round
and round the field, winding hither and thither through the weeds" - "Portrait of
the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce

Asyndeton: The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a

hurried rhythm or vehement effect. “I came; I saw; I conquered.”

You mean to tell me we lost the dog, the house, the car?

Thou hadst one aim, one business, one desire;

“This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to
betray you completely…”

Antanaclasis: Repetition of a word in two different senses. E.g.: “If we don’t

hang together, we’ll hang separately.” —Benjamin Franklin. “Put out the light,
then put out the light…” (Othello) "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will
be fired, with enthusiasm". "There's ways of killing yourself without killing
yourself." (Saturday Night fever)

Epizeuxis: words or phrases repeated in a succession in the same sentence or line.

Such as in this passage, “Alone, alone, all all alone, /Alone on a wide,
wide sea…” (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) "I
undid the lantern cautiously--oh, so cautiously--cautiously."(Edgar Allan Poe,
"The Tell-Tale Heart," 1843). "For a nation which has an almost evil reputation
for bustle, bustle, bustle, and rush, rush, rush, we spend an enormous amount of
time standing around in line in front of windows, just waiting."
(Robert Benchley, "Back in Line." Benchley--or Else! 1947)

Anaphora is a rhetorical term for when a writer or speaker repeats the same
beginning of a sentence several times. "It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch
of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Metaphor: A comparison made by equating one thing with another, showing that
two unlike things have something in common. “A mighty fortress is our God.”
“All the world’s a stage”

Simile: An explicit comparison, often (but not necessarily) employing "like" or

"as." “My love is like a red red rose” Robert Burns.

Metonymy: Reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes.

The pen is mightier than the sword: The pen is an attribute of thoughts that are
written with a pen; the sword is an attribute of military action. The press wields
enormous power (printing press for journalist, instrument for agent). He was
raised to the bench (the office of a judge, symbol for the thing symbolised). The
bright death (sword) quivered at the victim’s throat, he is basking in the sun
(sunshine)/ He brings his grey hair (age/experience) to the table (effect for cause).
He drank the fatal cup (container for the thing contained). I do not like Bacon
(maker for work).

Irony is the figurative term for the disconnect between what appears to happen or
what is apparently being said and the actual truth or reality. “Yet Brutus says he
was ambition/ And Brutus is an honourable man.” There are three types of irony:

Situational Irony-where actions or events have the opposite result from

what is expected or what is intended: There are roaches infesting the office
of a pest control service.

Verbal Irony-where someone says the opposite of what they really mean
or intend; sarcasm is a particularly biting form of verbal irony: On the way
to school, the school bus gets a flat tire and the bus driver says,
"Excellent! This day couldn't start off any better!"

Dramatic Irony-occurs when the audience or reader of a text knows

something that the characters do not: In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
the audience/reader knows that Juliet has faked her death, but Romeo does
not and he thinks she is really dead.

Allusion: An allusion is when a person or author makes an indirect reference in

speech, text, or song to an event or figure or other texts. The allusion does not
give much detail about the reference-it does not describe things in detail
(footnotes do this). Rather, because these events are momentous-significant
historically, culturally, or politically-the speaker or author expects that people in
general would understand the allusion without explanation. Allusions are often
used within a metaphor or simile. The comparison alludes to an event or person
of significance that everyone should understand. E.g.: “You're a regular Einstein.”

Oxymoron: Two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common
oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with
contrasting meanings, such as “cruel kindness,” or “living death”. E.g.
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:

“Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!

O anything, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?”

Paradox: From Greek paradoxon meaning “contrary to expectations, existing

belief or perceived opinion.” A statement that appears to be self-contradictory but
which contains a latent truth: “The child is father to the man…” (William
Wordsworth, My Heart Leaps up when I Behold)

Aphorism: a pithy observation which contains a general truth. The above

example ‘the child is father to the man’ is also an aphorism. “The darkest hour
comes before the dawn.” “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It
can also mean a concise statement of a scientific principle, typically by a classical
author (Hippocrates first used them, beginning with the celebrated aphorism ars
longa vita brevis or “life is short, art long”).

Aphorism is sometimes used interchangeably with epigram. There is a slight

difference. An epigram is a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever
and amusing way. Aphorisms are more philosophical, epigrams need not be. They
can be satirical and witty and some poems are also called epigrams because they
are short memorable and have an ingenuous twisty end. Martial was famous for
his epigrams. Example: “Diaulus had been a surgeon, and is now an undertaker.
He has begun to be useful to the sick in the only way that he could.”

“What is an Epigram? a dwarfish whole,/ Its body brevity, and wit its
soul.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("Epigram", 1809).

Alexander Pope’s poem “An Essay on Man” is chock-full of most major

rhetorical figures. “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;/ The proper
study of mankind is man” is an example of an aphoristic epigram in the poem.

Personification: Investing abstract ideas or inanimate objects with the attributes

of a living being. “The pyramids themselves, doting with age, have forgotten the
names of their founders.” This is also sometimes called a Personal Metaphor:
prattling brook (ceaselessly talking like a child), angry ocean, frowning mountain.
 But there is a slight difference: “frowning anger,” “green-eyed jealousy,” “rosy-
cheeked dawn” are not metaphors but personification. Personal metaphors are a
flavor of personification but not the same exactly.

Erotema (Rhetorical Question): To affirm or deny a point strongly by asking it

as a question. Generally, as Melanchthon noted, the rhetorical question includes
an emotional dimension, expressing wonder, indignation, sarcasm, etc. “Just why
are you so stupid?” Similarly, when someone responds to a tragic event by saying,
"Why me, God?!" it is more likely to be an accusation or an expression of feeling
than a realistic request for information. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
says the persona of Shakespeare's 18th sonnet. This kind of rhetorical question, in
which one asks the opinion of those listening, is called anacoenosis This
rhetorical question has a definite ethical dimension, since to ask in this way
generally endears the speaker to the audience and so improves his or her
credibility or ethos. (anacoenosis is asking the opinion or judgment of the judges
or audience, usually implying their common interest with the speaker in the
matter. E.g.: “Now I ask you to decide: Given the persecution my client has
undergone, does he not deserve to have some justifiable anger?”)

Onomatopoeia: a word that phonetically imitates, resembles or suggests the

sound that it describes: bang, pow, meow, woof. Onomatopoeic effect can also be
produced in a phrase or word string with the help of alliteration
and consonance alone, without using any onomatopoeic words. The most famous
example is the phrase "furrow followed free" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Enthymeme: The informal method of reasoning typical of rhetorical discourse.

The enthymeme is sometimes defined as a "truncated syllogism" since either the
major or minor premise found in that more formal method of reasoning is left
implied. The enthymeme typically occurs as a conclusion coupled with a reason.

Example

1. We cannot trust this man, for he has perjured himself in the past.
In this enthymeme, the major premise of the complete syllogism is missing:

• Those who perjure themselves cannot be trusted. (Major premise -

omitted)
 • This man has perjured himself in the past. (Minor premise - stated)

• This man is not to be trusted. (Conclusion - stated)

2. A figure of speech which bases a conclusion on the truth of its contrary. If to be

foolish is evil, then it is virtuous to be wise.
This also an example of chiasmus (repetition of ideas in inverted order: It is
boring to eat, to sleep is fulfilling. The pattern is present participle-infinitive;
infinitive-present participle.

Further reading and reference: Silva Rhetoricae. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/