Thank You for Arguing: Rhetorical Vocabulary

Essential rhetorical terms, devices, figures of speech, and logical fallacies covered in Jay Heinrichs's book 'Thank You for Arguing'.

Syncrisis

A figure of speech (Greek for 'alternative judgment') that reframes an argument by redefining it.

Argumentum a fortiori

Argument from strength; the logic that if something works the hard way, it is more likely to work the easy way.

Chiasmus

A crisscross figure of speech that repeats a phrase with its mirror image (e.g., 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country').

Eristic

A form of debating that seeks to win points rather than achieve agreement or consensus.

Concessio

The formal name for concession; conceding an opponent's point in order to win what you want.

Prolepsis

A figure of anticipation in which a speaker agrees in advance to what the opponent is likely to say.

Decorum

An agreeable ethos that matches the audience's expectations for a leader's tone, appearance, and manners; the art of fitting in.

Aporia

Feigned doubt or ignorance—wondering openly or admitting an inability to fathom a reason—used to get the audience reasoning on your behalf.

Virtue (Rhetorical)

The appearance of virtue created when the audience believes a speaker shares their values.

Practical Wisdom (Phronesis)

Rhetorical street smarts; the appearance of knowing the right thing to do on every occasion.

Disinterest (Eunoia)

Selflessness or disinterested goodwill; making the audience believe that their interest is the speaker's sole concern.

Dubitatio

Feigned helplessness or doubt about one's own rhetorical skill, used to lower expectations and convey absolute sincerity.

Commonplace

A viewpoint, cliché, belief, or value an audience holds in common, serving as the jumping-off point of an argument.

Enthymeme

A logic sandwich in rhetoric that combines a commonplace (premise) and a conclusion without stating the obvious middle premise.

Fallacy of Antecedent

A logical error assuming that because an event never happened before, it never will, or because it happened once, it will happen again.

Unit Fallacy

A logical error that mistakes one kind of unit for another, such as confusing a percentage of a percentage with a percentage of the whole.

Red Herring

A logical fallacy (also known as the Chewbacca defense) that switches issues in mid-argument to throw the audience off the scent.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

The Chanticleer fallacy; assuming that because one event followed another, the first event caused the second.

Kairos

The rhetorical art of seizing the perfect moment, timing, and medium for persuasion.

Hypophora

A figure of speech in which a speaker asks a rhetorical question and immediately answers it.

Anaphora

A figure of speech that repeats the first word or phrase in succeeding clauses.

Diazeugma

The 'multiple yoking' figure in which a single subject governs a succession of verbs in play-by-play fashion.

Metonymy

A trope that swaps a part for the whole, or a cause for an effect.

Synecdoche

A trope that swaps a thing for a collection of things or changes scale, such as using a species for a genus.

Anthimeria

The figure of 'verbing'; turning a noun into a verb or vice versa to create a new word or meaning.