Chapter Four Soften Them Up Character Logic Emotion

Chapter Four Soften Them Up— Character, Logic, Emotion The Strangely Triumphant Art of Agreeability

Aristotle’s most powerful tools of persuasion… Aristotle’s Three… 1) Argument by Character 2) Argument by Logic 3) Argument by Emotion

**Important Term** Aristotle’s Three (cont. )… -hypophora—a figure of speech in which you pose a rhetorical a question and answer it yourself. It is a way to anticipate the audience’s skepticism and nip it in the bud.

Hypophora— An Example "After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that. " (E. B. White, Charlotte's Web. Harper & Row, 1952)

Logos—argument by logic—it uses both pure logic and the logic of the audience (what the audience is thinking). Ethos—argument by character—it employs the persuader’s personality, reputation, and ability to look trustworthy. “A person’s life persuades better than his word. ” Pathos—argument by emotion—it employs sympathy. ‘Pathos’ forms the root word of sympathy. Aristotle’s Three (cont. )…

Aristotle’s Three (cont. )… Logos: Use the Logic in the Room… Concession—Aristotle said that every argument has its flipside. Remember—concession means to agree with your opponent’s point in order to advance your own agenda.

Aristotle’s Three (cont. )… Pathos: Start with the Audience’s Mood… The key word here is “sympathize”. Align yourself with your listener’s pathos. Share your listeners’ mood.

Aristotle’s Three (cont. )… **Try this at work** Over-sympathizing makes someone’s mood seem ridiculous without actually ridiculing it.

What type of rhetoric is being used…

What type of rhetoric is being used?

Decoding ethical appeals (cont. )… Ask yourself, “What does any given text say about its author? What does the text suggest or imply? ” The “real” and “implied” author can be very different people. How do we construct our image of the author? How can we know this person?

Network https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=q_q g. Vn-Op 7 Q

V for Vendetta https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=KKv v. OFIHs 4 k

Decoding ethical appeals (cont. )… Watch the scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The 39 Steps’. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=aalw XQINtio

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