The Language of Composition: Introducing Rhetoric: Using the "Available Means"

Yet the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) defined rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” At its best, rhetoric is a thoughtful, reflective activity leading to effective communication, including the rational exchange of differing viewpoints.

In our day, as in the time of Aristotle, those who understand and can use the available means to appeal to an audience of one or many find themselves in a position of strength.

Every essay, political cartoon, photograph, and advertisement is designed to convince you of something. To simplify, we will call all of these things texts because they are cultural products that can be “read,” meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated.

Every text is influenced by the historical, cultural, and social movements of its time. We call these broad influences context.

Within that context, a text is also directly informed by the occasion—the specific circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding the creation of the text.

Purpose is the goal the speaker wants to achieve.

The speaker is the person or group who creates a text.

Sometimes, there is a difference between who the speaker is in real life and the role the speaker plays when delivering the speech. This is called a persona. Persona comes from the Greek word for “mask”; it means the face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.

The subject is the topic. And the subject should not be confused with the purpose, which is the goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Now that we’ve practiced analyzing the rhetorical situation, the next step is to use the tools of rhetoric to persuade an audience. Let’s start with what Aristotle called rhetorical appeals.

A speaker’s ethos (Greek for “character”)—expertise, knowledge, experience, sincerity, or a combination of these factors—gives the audience a reason for listening to this person on this subject.

Speakers appeal to logos, or reason, by offering clear, rational ideas. Appealing to logos (Greek for “embodied thought”) means thinking logically—having a clear main idea and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back it up.

One way to appeal to logos is to acknowledge a counterargument—that is, to anticipate objections or opposing views.

This combination of concession and refutation actually strengthens your own argument; it appeals to logos by demonstrating that you understand a viewpoint other than your own, you’ve thought through other evidence, and you stand by your view.

This combination of concession and refutation actually strengthens your own argument; it appeals to logos by demonstrating that you understand a viewpoint other than your own, you’ve thought through other evidence, and you stand by your view.

Pathos is an appeal to emotions, values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other.

Although an argument that appeals exclusively to the emotions is by definition weak—it’s generally propagandistic in purpose and more polemical than persuasive—an effective speaker or writer understands the power of evoking an audience’s emotions by using such tools as figurative language, personal anecdotes, and vivid images.

Although an argument that appeals exclusively to the emotions is by definition weak—it’s generally propagandistic in purpose and more polemical than persuasive—an effective speaker or writer understands the power of evoking an audience’s emotions by using such tools as figurative language, personal anecdotes, and vivid images.

He also chooses words with strong positive connotations: grand, greatest, wonderful, honored, blessing.