...I have also examined two different case studies involving the application of Aristotle’s appeals to ethos (creditability), logos (logic), and pathos (emotion) in two different career fields. I evaluated these two studies as well as Aristotle’s Rhetoric as a whole in order to provide a better understanding of the theory. The reader is provided with a more artistic approach to Aristotle’s Rhetoric, in which the reader should be able to decide his/her own personal approaches towards persuasion, using Aristotle’s Rhetoric as the reader’s...
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...Classical Communication Models 1. Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric. a. “Rhetoric” is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion” Rhetoric is the counterpart of Dialectic. Both alike are concerned with such things as come, more or less, within the general ken of all men and belong to no definite science. Aristotle, On Rhetoric Aristotle was the first to take an initiative and design the communication model.Let us first go through a simple situation.In a political meeting, the prospective leader delivers speech to the audience urging for more votes from the constituency. He tries to convince the crowd in the best possible way he can so that he emerges as a winner. What is he actually doing ?He is delivering his speech in a manner that the listeners would get convinced and cast their votes only in his favour, or in other words respond in the same manner the speaker wanted to. Here the leader or the speaker or the sender is the centre of attraction and the crowd simply the passive listeners. | The example actually explains the Aristotle model of communication. The Aristotle model of communication is the widely accepted and the most common model of communication where the sender sends the information or a message to the receivers to influence them and make them respond and act accordingly. Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking, seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear...
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...Stephen Mailloux’s (1995, ed) discussion of “Sophistry and Rhetorical pragmatism” (pp1-30) and West and Turner’s (2010, pp.312-327) discussion of “Rhetoric”. This essay is a review of Stephen Mailloux’s discussion of Sophistry and Rhetorical pragmatism (Mailloux, 1995) and West and Turner’s discussion of Rhetoric (West & Turner, 2010). The writings in question discuss the origins and evolution of Rhetoric, with Mailloux introduce a historical and philosophical criticism of “sophistic Rhetoric as applied in the modern American context” (for example, neopragmatism and poststructuralism), and evaluated in the rest of the book, whilst West and Turner enlighten the reader about the heurism and globalism of Aristotle’s Rhetorical theory with a focus on the discipline of public speaking. Mailloux introduces sophistic Rhetoric as founded on the pragmatic doctrine that “Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not”, a phrase attributed to the Sophist Protagoras (Patrick, 2006). Others Sophists of note include Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias and Thrasymachus – quoted in Plato’s Republic as saying “… ‘Just’ or ‘right’ means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger party” (Plato & Lane, 2007)). West and Turner’s account of the Rhetoric show that the first teachers of Rhetoric were the "Sophists”, who were nomadic teachers of public speaking that were respected for their intellect and subsequently paid highly for their...
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...Rhetorical Analysis Paper Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream According to Aristotle, there are three ways for a speaker to persuade his audience: ethos, logos, and pathos ("American rhetoric: Aristotle's rhetoric - selected moments," n.d.). Aristotle noted that a speech should “engage both the rational and non-rational elements of the listener's soul” (Wardy, 1996, p. 63). The speaker must have credibility with their audience and appear fair, open-minded, honest, and knowledgeable (ethos). He/she must also have logical appeal with strong, valid arguments based on facts and, perhaps, with personal experience and observations (logos). And, finally, the speaker must emotionally appeal to the audience and create a personal connection to draw and hold their attention (pathos). Of the three, Aristotle believed that ideally arguments should be made with reason, or logic, alone (McKay & McKay, 2010). However, it is often a speaker’s emotional appeal that creates the personal connection, as well as captivates and motivates the audience … and few have done that better than the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. If you say the words “I have a dream”, Americans from age 18 to 80 immediately think of Martin Luther King Jr. They may not know the words achieved notoriety from a speech given at an equal rights march on Washington, DC in August 1963. They may not know that 250,000 blacks gathered at the National Mall to demand "jobs and freedom" (Hampson, 2013). Additionally, they...
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...The Rhetoric: Aristotle At some point or another, eventually you are persuaded or convinced to do something through some sort of speech or writing. Whereas, great Philosophers such as Aristotle have used art of persuasion in order to influence others through his memorable works of art and writings. Aristotle’s rhetoric exemplifies this by using the principles of ethos, pathos and logos. The theory of rhetoric looks at the way people use persuasion through their writing and their speeches in order to make people act or think in a certain way or to comply with what you are saying or writing. “Aristotle saw the function of rhetoric as the discovery in each case of “the available means of persuasion” (Griffin, 2015). Aristotle believed in three different types of speeches that you use the expressionism of rhetoric and they are deliberative, judicial and epideictic. As explained in Covino’s work, a deliberative speech will focus on decisions that mainly concern the future. This is typically delivered to a legislative body, such as U.S Congress or Legislative Assembly. The second form of speeches, as Covino explains, is judicial. The judicial focuses on decisions about what has previously happened in the past. These kinds of speeches are generally delivered in a court...
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...It’s crazy to think that we still use Aristotle's rhetoric, Roughly 300 BC is when Aristotle created the rhetoric and we still use his ideas today. Aristotle's work is believed to be the first known contribution to persuasion. Robert F. Kennedy’s Speech Following the Death of Martin Luther King Jr. was altogether very persuasive, his use of ethos logos and pathos was superb. RFK and Mlk were both firm believers that nonviolence was the most effective form of civil disobedience. Robert F. Kennedy’s Speech Following the Death of Martin Luther King Jr. was altogether very persuasive, his use of ethos logos and pathos was superb. Mr. Kennedy’s use of Ethos in his speech helped build his trustworthiness to the audience. RFK told a personal story about his brother being shot, it was the first time that he...
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...472 Spring 2007 February 20, 2007 Aristotle’s Life and the Rhetoric Books I and II Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Aristotle was a student of Plato’s who disagreed with his mentor over the place of public speaking in Athenian life • born in Macedonia about the time Plato was opening the Academy in Athens • age seven went to Athens and entered the Academy--stayed on as teacher; left 20 yrs later on Plato’s death in 347 • Was ineligible to inherit Academy because he wasn’t Athenian • believed only scientific demonstration and the analysis of formal logic could arrive at transcendent truth • Dialectic and rhetoric form 2 major divisions in his view of human inquiry but they deal with subjects on which true knowledge isn’t available • Rhetoric: making persuasion possible • for Aristotle, rhetoric as the discovery in each case of the available means of persuasion--this discovery requires scientific investigation o in terms of speech situations, he focused on civic affairs • forensic speaking considers guilt or innocence—judicial speech centering on accusation and defense • deliberative speaking considers future policy—political speech centering on future policy • epideictic speaking considers praise and blame—ceremonial speech ▪ Aristotle classified rhetoric as the counterpart of dialectic o dialectic is on-on-one conversation; rhetoric is one person addressing the many ...
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...Jay Heinrichs’s Thank you For Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Rhetoric, teaches the reader on how to persuade. From offence, to defense, and any other form helps the reader advance to a professional form of debate. He teaches about rhetoric, Aristotle’s three rules of persuasion, and gives real world examples of types of persuasion, from movies to politicians. Jay Heinrichs, the author of Thank You for Arguing is a New York Times bestseller. The book has been translated to 12 different languages and currently has 3 updated versions. His book is used in many different colleges, from Harvard to community colleges. Heinrich talks about many layers of an argument, which in every chapter he defines. His book can appeal to any type of person by providing the reader with different methods from both offence and defence. Thank You for Arguing brings back the lost art of rhetoric, invented by the Greeks, which helps the one that uses rhetoric, understand the world and help improve their life. He defines decorum, the three rules of...
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...Erin Ryan wrote an article featured in Spotlight in First Year Writing, called “Telling it from the Mountain: A Rhetorical Analysis of Fannie Lou Hamer’s Speech before the Democratic National Convention”, analyzing the rhetorical qualities of Mrs. Hammers speech in 1964. My notebook entry will use material covered in the class text “Write about Writing” to highlight what Erin Ryan used in the rhetorical analysis of this emotional speech. In the retelling of Mrs. Hamer’s speech, Erin Ryan uses two forms of Aristotle’s proof (pistis) to elicit a response in the analysis. Reading through the article, I found two methods of appeal: emotion (pathos), and logic (logos). The emotional appeal of the article, describes Mrs. Hammers speech style....
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...message that he wants to bring us. He shares his ideas to help American’s to succeed based on a unity within the people. His ideals go beyond people’s gender, religious beliefs, race, color or sexual orientation, as long as people can come together we will be able to accomplish a lot and keep moving forward. A big part of the speech is about race. What Obama tries to say is that people are missing the big picture and that people have too much focus on race and diversity that if they do not start to change that then it will have big consequences in the future, like going back in time where slavery was normal. Barack Obama’s speech echoes the rhetorical concepts of ethos, pathos and logos, which are all explicitly discussed within Aristotle’s The Rhetoric [2]. Ethos is about how trustable a person is and if the person is reliable, where pathos is all about the emotions and feelings and how strongly they are presented, and the last one is used for logic knowledge and statistics and is called logos. All the rhetorical concepts are evident...
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...automatically ignore Aristotle's Rhetoric. I don't say Aristotle has given us the last word on these matters. But I submit that his actual treatment of topics is fundamentally correct. You could add new topics and develop accordingly. But what you got 2,000 years ago was the kind of approach that can be built on in principle. (Burke 1967:327). While researching many of Kenneth Burke’s books and essays I found that Burke's writings on rhetorical theory demonstrate his passionate concern with artistic communication within social life. His work provides a broad, useful approach for understanding various ways theorists have constructed in the development of their theories of how people use language within social contexts. The theory of Dramatism, constructed by Kenneth Burke, is one of the most radical and complex theories in communication studies. Kenneth Burke struggled for many years to build, reconstruct, and define the aspects of his theory. The use of different articles that either focus on certain aspects of Dramatism and rhetorical theory provide examples of how they can be applied, to simply make more sense of Burke’s concepts and in turn, assert its legitimacy as a very important interpretive theory. Undoubtedly, Dramatism has sparked much debate about rhetorical criticism. It is also undeniable that the heart of Burke’s research and the theory of Dramatism in general is the dramatistic pentad. Burke regarded his theories as a contribution to the "new rhetoric." The key term...
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...wants to bring out. He tells about his deal for America and its success that is based on a unity within the people of America. For him, it does not matter what gender, religious background or race that you have, as long as people come together to unite in their, once, promised union and keep moving forward. A big part of the speech is about race. What Obama tries to say is that people are missing the big picture and that people have too much focus on race and diversity that if they do not start to change that then it will have big consequences in the future, like going back in time where slavery was normal. Barack Obama’s speech echoes the rhetorical concepts of ethos, pathos and logos, which are all explicitly discussed within Aristotle’s The Rhetoric[2]. Ethos is about how trustable a person is and if the person is reliable, where pathos is all about the...
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...Critical Analysis According to Dr. Marc Green attention blindness has been a lingering problem that has been going on even 120 years back in history. Author, Cathy Davidson, in her book Now You See It addresses the topic of attention blindness. She has many examples of ways we can fight attention blindness and change society as a whole by just modernizing with technology. Cathy Davidson does an excellent job using logos, ethos, and pathos to prove her argument on attention blindness. Logos is the logic is used to support a claim; can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument. Throughout this whole Ms. Cathy Davidson does a great job using statistics and other logical information to back up her argument. A great example of this is in chapter 8 when she discusses how the World Wide Web is effective if everyone uses it. She uses logos by saying over 80 percent of Americans between the ages of fifty and fifty-four are now online. She goes into more depth in this chapter with the use of statistics when she talks about how it is not only young people using social networking but also forty percent of the people who use Facebook and Myspace are over the age of thirty-five. When she uses examples like those it gives you a good mental understanding of how many older people are trying to keep up with technology, thus helping her defend her argument even better. Ethos is the source's credibility and the speaker's or author's authority. Ms. Davidson has good ethos...
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...not giving it a definite structure. Instead, it keeps these concepts open to interpretation. In Plato’s time, philosophy was not an established subject, and had to face competition with Mythology or Art to appeal to people and gain their interest. The basic reason why it could and it does gain people’s interest is because it appeals to the intellectual side of a person, rather than appealing the emotional, sensory side of human, as does mythology or art. Aristotle, also a Greek philosopher, had very different view from Plato, and in many of his works, his theories simply discard Plato’s views and concepts in support of a different line of thought that developed into his theories. He was a scientist as well as a philosopher. His works were named Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, etc., by his readers. He was the first who classified fields of knowledge of humans into different disciplines like biology, mathematics and ethics. He developed the formal system of reasoning, stating that an argument is valid not through its content but by the structure it forms. Aristotle’s definition of good reasoning combined in it his beliefs on scientific methods. His definition of a moral person is someone who cultivates or acquires a virtue that is based on strong reasoning. He rejected...
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...The Pillars of Rhetoric Although it is the strong feelings that an individual displays about particular aspects of society that arouse interest in a speech, it the way that these are presented that allows a speech to transcend contextual bounds and continue to captivate audiences. Although he lived over 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle really knew what he was talking about when it came to the art of rhetoric. I know that it’s highly unlikely that you have read his 4th century BC treatise ‘Rhetoric’, unless you have a particular obsession for reading particularly old books written by particularly old men, but his division of persuasion into three categories remains relevant, as they continue to be manipulated and mastered by many orators today. These three categories are ethos, the...
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