CS203-B Week 2 Notes

Language, Metaphor & Rhetoric

  • Key Questions:

    • What do words "do"?

    • How do words "persuade"?

    • What are metaphors and how do they work?

  • Quote by George Bernard Shaw:

    • Communication often perceived as accomplished may be fundamentally miscommunicated.

Language of Inequality (Winslow 2017)

  • Inequality as an ideological process, fundamentally related to economic structures.

  • Example of state Communist regime failures and poverty reduction statistics (1980-2016).

  • Key insight: Success attributed not to effort but to parental background.

  • Emphasizes need for coherence in understanding economic arrangements.

Total Wealth Distribution (2024 Statistics)

  • Canada:

    • Top 1% holds 24% of wealth.

    • Top 20% households hold 64.7%.

    • Bottom 40% holds 3.3% of wealth.

Rhetoric Definitions

  • Defined by Aristotle:

    • Art of persuasive speaking or writing.

    • Utilized to uncover truth in uncertain areas.

  • Three types of speech:

    • Forensic (past), Deliberative (future), Epideictic (present).

Phases of Speech Writing

  1. Inventio (Invention):

    • Questions about argument creation and material gathering.

  2. Dispositio (Arrangement):

    • Organization of discourse and its supporting logic.

  3. Elocutio (Style):

    • Importance of style in persuasion; relationship between form and content.

  4. Memoria (Memory):

    • Speaker’s ability to recall content effectively.

  5. Actio (Delivery):

    • Presentation dynamics and speaker's ethos.

Means of Persuasion

  • Ethos: Credibility of the speaker.

  • Pathos: Emotional appeal to the audience’s feelings.

  • Logos: Logical reasoning within an argument.

Syllogism and Enthymeme

  • Syllogism structure: Major premise → Minor premise → Conclusion.

  • Enthymeme: Implicitly stated syllogism, omitting a clear premise.

Metaphor and Metonymy

  • Metaphor: Implied comparison enhancing understanding and meaning.

  • Metonymy: Using a closely related concept to understand another; makes the abstract concrete.

  • Example: "All Hands on Deck" represents a call for collective effort.