EVERYTHING IS AN ARGUMENT NOTES
Chapter 1
All language, whether written or spoken, visual or textual, is motivated.
Because language is a human activity and because humans exist in a complex world of goals, purposes, and activities, language cannot be anything but motivated.
Language is a form of “symbolic action”: it gets things done in the world, acting on people and situations.
All language is inherently a form of argument.
People use language to create identification between themselves and their audience.
The flip side of the argument that all language is motivated and is powerful: all language is open to interpretation and negotiation.
Argument v/s “disagreement”
Argument v/s persuasion
What does it mean to “make a point”?
What is “reasoned inquiry”?
Arguments change depending on contexts.
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS: (define, using your book)
Stasis theory
Rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos
Rhetorical situation
CONTEXT:
The context is affected by the time period, location, current events, and the cultural significance of events or people under consideration.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Chapter 2
If argument is primarily a form of reasoned inquiry, what is the role of emotion in a responsible argument?
The Rhetorical Situation dictates appropriate and inappropriate emotional appeals.
4 ways to use Emotional Appeal
1. Using Emotions to Build Bridges
A writer/ speaker connects with their audience in a way in which the audience believes the speaker "feels their pain" (Bill Clinton).
EX. Pg 44-45
2. Using Emotions to Sustain an Argument
The use of photos and images can appeal to an audience's emotions and convince them of the argument. Continuing to evoke emotions in an audience helps to sustain the argument and keep the audience's attention.
3. Using Humor
Humor has always played a part in persuasion because it breaks the ice and allows people to forget, even if just for a moment, the trials and tribulations of their life.
4. Using Arguments Based on Emotions
Always consider your audience when constructing an argument. No one wants to be the speaker that made everyone cry or throw tomatoes!
Chapter 3
Aristotle says in the Rhetoric that the most important of the three
proofs (logical, pathetic, ethical) is the argument based on character:
if the audience does not trust the orator, all else is in vain.
Ethos is context specific:
Jessica Simpson has a more credible ethos than a senator or governor in the right
context—for example, a cosmetics advertisement.
Context determines an argument’s success, so ethos can be elastic, depending upon the context of the argument.
Writers must have a variety of voice: written voices used in class, in
emails to family members, and in job applications, for example, already
differ, but that they are not necessarily false representations.
Instead, each of these three kinds of writing attempts to create a character that foregrounds certain elements of students’ interests and expertise and backgrounds others.
For your assignment, model your work after the following;
1. Consider the ethos of each of the following public figures. Then
describe one or two public arguments, campaigns, or products
that might benefit from their endorsements as well as several that
would not.
• Oprah Winfrey—TV celebrity [The popular host appeals especially to women, but her appeal is probably as broad as anyone’s in America; her caring, generous, trustworthy
demeanor means that she could sell almost anything and could have serious political influence as well.]
Chapter 4: Logos
evidence, facts, testimony, statistics—real numbers, real facts, and no more opinions and feelings
using evidence responsibly is complicated
“Nothing works better than Bayer.” It’s a fact: no aspirin
works better than Bayer aspirin. But it’s a fact that conceals the important point that other aspirins work equally well.
Arguable proposition
Rationality versus Hard Evidence
Certain propositions are not arguable:
• the square root of 81 is 9;
• Spain borders Portugal;
• Charles Dickens wrote in English
Arguable:
• Christopher Columbus discovered America,
• William Shakespeare wrote all the plays attributed to him,
• Clear-cutting in the rain forest has little environmental impact.
Chapter 4 Responses
1. Discuss whether the following statements are examples of hard evidence [inartistic] or rational appeals [artistic]. Not all cases
are clear-cut.
• The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Rational, because many factors dictate a "hard" fall.
• Drunk drivers are involved in more than 50 percent of traffic
deaths.
• DNA tests of skin found under the victim’s fingernails suggest
that the defendant was responsible for the assault.
• Polls suggest that a large majority of Americans favor a constitutional
amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
• A psychologist testified that teenage violence could not be
blamed on video games.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• History proves that cutting tax rates increases government revenues
because people work harder when they can keep more
of what they earn
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
