rhetoric midterm

Rhetoric

The art of persuasion; using language and symbols to influence thought and action.

Persuasion

The process of influencing beliefs

Forensic Speech

A speech focused on the past; seeks truth or justice

Epideictic Speech

A speech focused on the present; gives praise or blame

Deliberative Speech

A speech focused on the future; debates action or policy

Artistic Proofs

Persuasive appeals created by the speaker: ethos

Inartistic Proofs

External evidence not created by the speaker

Ethos

Appeal to the speaker’s credibility

Pathos

Appeal to the audience’s emotions by understanding and shaping their emotional reality.

Logos

Appeal to logic and reasoning using structure

Topos (Topoi)

Commonplace or shared ground that connects the speaker and audience.

Eudaimonia

The idea of human flourishing or “the good life”; what rhetoric often appeals to.

Enthymeme

A logical argument with an implied premise or conclusion that the audience fills in.

Syllogism

A logical form with two premises and a conclusion

Logical Fallacy

A flaw in reasoning that weakens an argument.

Ad Hominem

Attacking the person instead of the argument.

Straw Man

Misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier to attack.

False Dilemma

Presenting only two options when more possibilities exist.

Slippery Slope

Claiming one event will lead to a chain of disasters.

Circular Reasoning

Using the conclusion as one of the premises.

Hasty Generalization

Drawing a conclusion from too little or unrepresentative evidence.

Post Hoc

Assuming one event caused another simply because it happened first.

Appeal to Emotion

Using emotional manipulation instead of logic to persuade.

Bandwagon

Arguing something is true or right because many people believe it.

Rhetorical Situation

A situation that calls for rhetoric; speech prompted by a problem or issue.

Rhetorical Exigence

A problem or imperfection marked by urgency that can be changed through speech.

Rhetorical Audience

People who can be influenced by discourse and have the power to take action.

Rhetorical Constraints

People

Conformity

When an audience accepts and acts on a message.

Desecration

When an audience rejects a message in a disrespectful or subversive way.

Nonparticipation

When an audience refuses to engage or ignores the message.

Contextual Reconstruction

When an audience redefines or reframes the situation itself.

Bitzer (1968)

Argued that situations create rhetoric; meaning comes from the situation.

Vatz (1973)

Argued that rhetoric creates situations; meaning is produced by language and speech.

Edbauer (2005)

Expanded rhetoric into “rhetorical ecology

Rhetorical Ecology

Seeing rhetoric as dynamic and ever-changing

Rhetorical Problem

A situation where speakers and listeners must communicate across differences to understand each other.

Cultural Discourse

Shared set of words

Cultural Conflict

When two cultural discourses clash

Rhetorical Listening

Listening across difference to understand how and why people think as they do.

Competing Claims

Opposing arguments or positions on the same issue.

Cultural Logics

Reasoning systems shaped by culture that explain why people hold certain beliefs.

Dominant Tropes

Widely accepted metaphors or narratives that shape cultural understanding.

Key Tropes

Specific recurring metaphors or phrases tied to a particular issue or debate.

Unstated Assumptions

Hidden beliefs or premises underlying an argument that reveal cultural bias or values.