Elements of Argument

Concession

Seeming to agree with an opponent in order to turn their argument to your advantage

Example

Using an example (a fact, comparison, story) as the basis for a claim or inductive logic

Kairos

Choosing the right form for the occasion (time and place, i.e. being “timely”)

Forensic

concerned with arguing whether or not wrongdoing has occurred, in the past.

Deliberative

concerned with arguing whether or not some course of action would bring about good ends, in the future.

Epideictic

concerned with ceremonial commemoration or declamation, praise or blame, in the present.

Ad hominem

an attack on the basis of someone’s character

Anecdote

A short account of an amusing, interesting, or telling incident or experience

Decorum

fitting in with the audience’s expectation of one’s character/behavior/speech

Definition

defining a term to support, refute, or qualify an argument

Practical wisdom/phronesis

street smarts or common wisdom

Refutation

The action or an act of refuting or disproving a statement, charge, theory, etc.; rebuttal.

Rhetorical virtue

demonstrating/matching the audience’s values

Straw man

Oversimplifying an opponent’s viewpoint in order to attack it

Aporia

The use of doubt or ignorance as a rhetorical device

Dubitatio

Feigned doubt about the ability to speak well

Hypophora

Raising a rhetorical question and immediately answering it to forestall skepticism

Innuendo

Seeding negative ideas or connotations in an audience’s head

Metanoia

Self-editing or correcting oneself to add in a stronger point

Paralipsis

Mentioning something by saying you’re not going to mention it

Prolepsis

The action of anticipating a possible objection or counter-argument in order to answer or discount it, or to deprive it of force

Syllogism

An argument expressed or claimed to be expressible in the form of two propositions called the premises, containing a common or middle term, with a third proposition called the conclusion, resulting necessarily from the other two. Example

Syncrisis

Reframing an argument by redefining it or its terms; comparing two opposites to make a point

Adianoeta / double entendre

Allusion to a hidden meaning

A fortiori

an argument based on the idea that if something unlikely is true, then something likely is bound to be true

Antithesis

Introducing contrasting ideas alongside each other

Paradox

A contrary figure or impossible pairing of ideas

Pun

The use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect; a play on words.

Reductio ad absurdum

Taking an opposing argument to its illogical conclusion in order to dismantle it