Persuasion and Reasoning Notes

How Do We Allow Persuasion to Change Our Minds?

• Aristotle's "Rational World"

Aristotle on Rhetoric

• 4 Reasons to Study Rhetoric

  1. Self-defense

  2. Popular Audiences

  3. Learning Opposing Arguments

  4. A Tool ($, health, military strategy)

• Reasoning under conditions of uncertainty

• Rhetoric: “the faculty of observing in any given situation all of the available means of persuasion.”

Reasoning: Deductive & Inductive

• Deductive Reasoning

• Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Logic/Reasoning

• Syllogism & Enthymeme Form

• Major Premise: General principle, widely-accepted “truism,” community values, “common sense”

• Minor Premise: Specific instance, case

• Conclusion:

Deductive Argument Form

• Major Premise: If A = B

• Minor Premise: If C = A

• Conclusion: Then C = B

Classic Deductive Argument

• Major Premise: If all men are mortal…

• Minor Premise: And if Socrates is a man…

• Conclusion: Then Socrates is mortal.

Deductive Reasoning Example 1

• “Hokies are nice people. They’re always smiling!”

• Major Premise: People who smile are nice people. Nice people smile.

• Minor Premise: Hokies are always smiling!

• Conclusion: Hokies are nice people.

Deductive Reasoning Example 2

• “You won’t get the job you want, because your resume is full of errors.”

• Major Premise: Companies don’t grant interviews to people whose resumes have errors.

• Minor Premise: Your resume is full of errors.

• Conclusion: You’re not going to get the job you want.

Deductive Reasoning Example 3

• “The gun has the defendant’s fingerprints on it. She is guilty!”

• Major Premise: Guns have the fingerprints of those who use them.

• Minor Premise: The gun has accused’s/defendant’s fingerprints on it.

• Conclusion: The accused is guilty of using the gun to commit the crime.

Inductive Logic/Reasoning

• Example

• Form

  • Specific: Specific instance(s)

  • Generalization: Broader application or "population”

Summary

• DEDUCTIVE

  • Enthymeme

• INDUCTIVE

  • Example