AP Lang Midterm

Rhetor

A master or teacher of rhetoric

Purpose

What the audience should think/feel/do based on the message.

Exigence

The specific and compelling need to communicate or condition that invites a specific response.

Forensic Claim

Proving something has happened.

Demonstrative Claim

Demonstrating the value of something.

Deliberative Claim

Suggesting a possible action to solve a known problem.

Grounds

Evidence used to support an argument, must be sufficient, relevant, and accurate.

Rhetoric

The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.

Rhetorical Situtation

The relationship between the rhetor, audience, and message.

Line of Reasoning

Logic of an argument.

Inductive Reasoning

A method of drawing conclusions by going from the specific to the general.

Deductive Reasoning

A logical approach where you progress from general ideas to specific conclusions.

Accident Fallacy

Applying a general rule to a situation where the rule does not really apply.

Ad Hominem

Instead of addressing someones argument or position, irrelevantly attacking a person.

Appeal to Doubtful Authority

Relying on the statements of a false authority figure, whose is framed as credible on the topic being discussed.

Appeal to Ignorance

When you argue that your conclusion must be true, because there is no evidence against it.

Appeal to Pity

When someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting one's opponent's feelings of pity or guilt.

Bandwagon

Claiming that a belief's popularity means it's correct.

Begging the Question

When an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. In other words, you assume without proof the stand/position, or a significant part of the stand, that is in question.

Dogmatism

Essentially saying that no other belief but his or her own is the correct, or acceptable, one to hold.

Equivocation

When a key term or phrase in an argument is used in an ambiguous way, with one meaning in one portion of the argument and then another meaning in another portion of the argument.

Fallacy of Composition

The error of assuming that what is true of a member of a group is true for the group as a whole.

False Analogy

Assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they are necessarily alike in some other respect.

False Dilemma

Presenting only two options or sides when there are many options or sides.

Hasty Generalization

Making a claim based on evidence that is just too small.

Non Sequitur

A pattern of reasoning rendered invalid by a flaw in its logical structure that can neatly be expressed in a standard logic system.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

"Since event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X."

Red Herring

When irrelevant information is presented alongside relevant information, distracting attention from that relevant information.

Slippery Slope

When someone makes a claim about a series of events that would lead to one major event, usually a bad event.

Straw Man

When someone takes another person's argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in some kind of extreme way.

Tu Quoque

Intends to discredit the opponent's argument by attacking the opponent's own personal behavior and actions as being inconsistent with their argument, therefore accusing hypocrisy.

Two Wrongs

When a person attempts to justify an action against another person because the other person did take or would take the same action against him or her.