What is rhetoric?

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  Hello there, Class.

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  I hope you're doing well.

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  So today we're gonna learn about one of my favorites

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  rhetoric. For some of you, this may be more of

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  a review, which is great.

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  Use this chance to refresh your memory and add on

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  to your notes.

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  And for others, this might be brand new information.

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  Wherever you're starting from, make sure to stop by office

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  hours. If you want any examples, I would be happy

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  to go over it with you before we get started.

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  With all the content, I want you to take a

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  second, pause the video and go ahead and jot down

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  everything that comes to mind when you hear the word

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  rhetoric. Now for many of you, when you were jotting

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  down those notes, you might have had a lot of

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  negative associations with it, for example, something like this.

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  So former President Barack Obama says in 2016 quote.

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  I told you earlier, all the talk of America's economic

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  decline is political hot air.

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  Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our

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  enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker.

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  Now here in this quote rhetoric is on the same

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  level as hot air which is another way of saying

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  Bologna. We get this idea that rhetoric is about manipulation

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  or even outright distortion of the truth and in all

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  honesty, outside of the academic realm.

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  That's the way I personally hear rhetoric used most, especially

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  when we're in an election year.

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  However, the way we use it in English five is

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  MAWR about the academic definition, which we're gonna look at

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  in just a second.

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  But first, let's go ahead and take a trip on

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  the way back machine and think about where this connotation

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  came from.

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  So some of you guys might recognize the two men

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  in this picture.

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  On the left, we have Plato on the right.

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  We have Aristotle, and they're two of the three greats.

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  When it comes to ancient Greek philosophy, the first in

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  the lineup would be Socrates.

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  So Socrates was a mentor to Plato, and Plato was

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  a mentor to Aristotle.

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  This is just a fun fact.

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  You don't have to remember it, but if you do

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  want to remember the order of them, I usually think

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  of spa, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

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  Anyways. So Plato, who mentored Aristotle.

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  Plato believed that rhetoric was an attempt to actually dissuade

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  people from believing in the truth.

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  He thought it was basically like putting lipstick on a

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  pig. It was a way of gussying up a situation

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  to seem better than it.

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  Waas Aristotle said.

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  No, no, no, no.

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  When we actually think about how we compose an argument,

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  if we could engage people's emotions, show them the logic.

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  If we can give them an impression of our own

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  credibility, all of that can help lead people to the

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  truth. And so while Plato gives us the negative connotation

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  that we saw in the Obama quote, Aristotle actually gives

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  rise the definition that we use in academics.

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  So let's go ahead and look at that basic definition

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  produced, According to the dictionary, Your basic definition looks like

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  this one the ability to use language effectively and to

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  the art of using speech to persuade influence or please.

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  Now, in an academic setting.

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  That word right there persuade is the most important, because

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  that's what we focus mostly on in our writing.

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  And on the surface, these definitions seemed quite simple and

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  straightforward, and that's because there is a little bit more

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  when you scratch beneath the surface.

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  So let's go ahead and do that.

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  So as it happens, there are four pillars of rhetoric.

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  Ah, lot more goes into rhetoric than just these four

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  pillars, but this is a nice basic way of breaking

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  it down, and they are ethos, pathos, logos and Cairo's.

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  We're going to spend some time looking at what each

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  one means, and then also thinking about how you could

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  build it into your papers.

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  So ethos that E.

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  T. H might remind you of the word ethics and

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  ethics is about morality right and wrong.

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  So if you have that association, it helps you get

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  to the definition of the term.

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  So ethos is a strategic appeal the author speaker uses

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  in their argument.

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  It's their way of establishing their credibility, their trustworthiness on

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  a given topic.

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  So, for example, on the far left, we have a

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  doctor. She's establishing her credibility by wearing the uniform of

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  a doctor.

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  That lab quote takes years and years of advanced training

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  and experience before you could put it on.

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  So if we had a question about, let's say our

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  bones, we might go and talk to her about it.

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  However, if you're paying attention and if you've seen Grey's

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  Anatomy, you know that That's actually Callie Torres, that is

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  an actress.

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  So on the one hand, if she were an actual

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  doctor, she would have a great deal of credibility on

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  topics relating to our bodies.

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  However, right now this is actually a misuse of ethos.

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  She is not credible.

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  We would not actually want to ask her questions about

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  medicine. We could ask her questions about acting.

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  Even singing she had a brief singing career is well,

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  so you can see where on the one hand we

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  aim for this ideal, but we always have to be

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  on guard for trickery, which we'll talk about more later

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  this semester.

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  So in the middle we have Judy Woodruff, and if

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  in the background, you see PBS news Hour, this is

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  a well known and reputable source for news.

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  They're known for having a balanced presentation where they try

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  not to slant it either positive or negative, left or

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  right, et cetera.

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  If we had questions about current events or if we

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  had questions about journalism, she's a great deal of credibility.

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  But would we ask her questions about a root canal

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  or getting our teeth cleaned No, she doesn't have ethos

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  there. And then finally, on the far right, we have

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  a beautiful, poetic author, Julia Alvarez, and she is well

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  known for writing about her experience as a Dominican American.

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  If we had questions about the dictatorship in the Dominican

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  Republic, if we had questions about being a creative writer,

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  we would ask her.

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  So remember, ethos is situational just because someone has a

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  doctor in their name just because they have a PhD,

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  just because they have a great deal experience and a

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  niche field doesn't mean they automatically have ethos in every

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  situation. So you really got to think about it in

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  your own writing.

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  You already built in ethos a variety of ways.

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  For example, you can demonstrate that you're knowledgeable about the

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  subject and a literature class this would look like referring

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  to very like particular detailed, specific examples from throughout the

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  book. To show you read it carefully, you can also

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  borrow the ethos of expert sources, and this Onley works.

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  If you take the time to briefly establish their ethos,

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  then you borrow it.

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  You can prove a close association, for example, if you're

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  invited to share your own anecdotal evidence and you're writing

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  about a mental health issue and you have had mental

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  health issues in the past, then that shows that you

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  know about the issue on a first hand way.

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  And then, of course, you could also include a counter

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  argument to show that you are fair and balance.

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  We're gonna be talking about counter arguments more a little

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  bit later in the semester.

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  So while ethos is very important because if they can't

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  trust you, they're not gonna believe anything you have to

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  say. Even if you're right, it's not the Onley pillar.

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  Another one that is very important is pathos, and that

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  P A T H might remind you of sympathy or

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  empathy. The route we're looking at is emotion.

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  So if you're thinking of its d notation, pathos is

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  the strategic and appropriate use of emotion.

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  In an argument, you'll note two things I said strategic

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  and appropriate.

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  You can actually misuse pathos, and we're gonna talk about

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  that when we look at logical fallacies a little bit

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  later in the semester, and you also notice that I

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  said strategic because it's not just about seeing emotion or

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  talking about emotions, and we're gonna talk about how to

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  analyze it in just a second.

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  How do you bring it into your own paper?

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  So pathos is often overlooked because our education system focuses

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  on the next one logos.

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  But it's really important if you're gonna have a rhetorically

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  sound argument to build it in.

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  You could, for example, include a relevant anecdote.

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  Remember, an anecdote is a personal experience.

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  If you choose one that has an appropriate emotional tone

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  for what you're trying to get your reader to feel,

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  it could be really powerful.

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  One easy place to integrate them would be in your

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  hook. You could, of course, throughout the paper, focus on

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  your tone.

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  Your tone is your emotional reaction to the subject, and

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  this is important because it will affect your readers mood,

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  which is what we're trying to do with pathos.

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  So if I am trying to get people to go

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  out there and march in the streets, I might have

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  an outraged tone.

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  I might have one that's trying to give a call

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  to action.

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  I wouldn't necessarily wanna have a depressing one, because that

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  might make people want to stay home and just eat

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  chocolate and the other thing you could do, of course,

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  is to be strategic and choose examples that illicit a

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  target emotion in your audience.

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  So what?

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  I'm thinking about what quotes to include what examples I

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  want to analyze.

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  Make sure that they're still in tune with the emotion

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  you want to get out of your audience, which is

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  why it's really important to consider what emotion you want

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  them to feel before you even begin.

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  And, of course, when you're analyzing for pathos in an

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  argument that you're experiencing, you want to make sure that

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  you remember that pathos is about the audiences emotion.

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  So you're author or speaker might include an example.

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  You slow down and think, What are they trying to

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  make me feel?

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  Empathy, anger, excitement?

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  How did they make me feel that way?

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  And that's how you analyze for Phos is not just

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  emotion in the text.

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  Those the first two of the pillars of rhetoric the

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  last two are logos and Cairo's no logos is the

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  one that we focus on most throughout our education.

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  So when you think about things like having a clear

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  thesis and topic sentences and transitions, all of those are

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  to deal with the well reasoned and thoughtfully structured argument,

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  which is logos, Logos is the appeal to reason.

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  So whenever you slow down and really explain your analysis

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  in detail, you explain it.

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  Step by step.

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  Your reasons for believing.

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  Whatever claim you made that right there is logos.

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  You could also include a statistic, a fact or definition.

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  This will be your evidence that you then analyze.

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  And, of course, you consider your structure of your argument.

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  Is it something that we can actually follow and understand

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  it? Be convinced by And just as a pro tip,

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  the Texas structure that we talk about sometimes in class

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  is one easy way to help building logos.

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  It alone isn't enough, but it's a really good start

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  from logos is Cairo's now.

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  Most often, people are familiar with ethos, pathos and logos.

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  Before whatever reason, Cairo's often gets for gotten.

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  So let's go ahead and look at it.

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  Hi Rose is really straightforward.

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  It's just a timely argument.

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  So by time that I mean, is this argument coming

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  at a time when it can actually make a change?

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  For example, if I were to make a really thoughtful

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  argument that Bernie Sanders should be elected president.

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  Clearly, that ship has sailed a long time ago.

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  So even if my argument has perfect ethos, pathos and

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  logos, it means nothing.

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  No one will be convinced by it.

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  So that's Cairo's.

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  On one side, you're thinking about the cultural context and

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  whether or not it makes sense.

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  The other side is the Kairos of the elements in

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  your paper.

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  So think about the order of ideas, and this will

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  be a well balanced argument and this one I usually

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  think of as a punch line.

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  You could have a perfectly logical argument, but perhaps it

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  goes from Topic aid to Topic Z to Topic three,

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  and that just doesn't make sense.

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  So you got to reorganize them in a way so

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  that they flow well.

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  And when I think about this, when I think about

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  it like a punch line of a joke, a joke

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  is on.

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  Lee. Funny if you time it right.

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  So, for example, we have this little cartoon.

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  The joke is what did the Buffalo say to his

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  son when he left for college by son.

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  Now, if I had said if I had instead had

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  said, you know the Buffalo says by son.

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  When his son goes off to college, the time is

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  off. It's not funny.

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  I ruined the joke.

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  So those are the four pillars.

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  Why does it all matter?

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  It's all about convincing our audience.

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  And so I want to touch back on two terms,

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  audience and genre.

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  So the audience genre both shape how you communicate.

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  And that's why I always note them on our props.

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  So, for example, when we were thinking about how to

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  make sure that we have strong pathos, we're thinking about

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  what emotion we wanted our audience to feel, and that

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  dictates our tone.

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  And it also influences what we choose in terms of

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  our anecdotes and evidence, etcetera.

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  Beyond that, we also have to think of the genre,

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  So the genre is the type of writing.

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  Not all essays are the same.

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  If I'm writing a letter to convince someone, then I

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  need to have the format and structure of a letter.

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  It's kind of like a contract between you and the

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  audience. If you picked up a mystery novel, but you

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  got some sort of cyberpunk novel, you're gonna be pretty

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  mad. You might want your money back where you might

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  throw it back at the library, whatever it happens to

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  be. And so when you're thinking about how to deploy

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  the four pillars of rhetoric, you have to think about

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  who your audience is, and you have to think about

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  what your genres.

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  So that's a brief introduction to rhetoric.

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  Please feel free to come by office hours with any

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  questions, and then throughout the semester, we're gonna work with

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  these terms in more detail.

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  I'll talk to you guys later.