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Rhetoric Final Exam

Terms in this set (119)

dialectic
A logical method of reasoning about things without contradicting yourself.
rhetoric
the art of persuasion--an innate capability which humans have a faculty for; it is the art of discovery based on contingent circumstances
rhetoric (Aristotle)
According to Aristotle, this is defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.
art
The reasoned capacity to make something.
1) To persuade others towards truth and justice, 2) because some cannot be taught, 3) because learning to argue for or against a case is useful, 4) because it is important to defend oneself physically and verbally, and 5) because it is not sophistry.
What are the five reasons rhetoric is useful?
Study, imitation, habit, innovation
How do we learn a new art?
genus
The general category of things which a term falls into
definition
This has three parts, the term, genus, and differentiae.
differentiae
the specific attributes of a thing, that distinguish or demarcate it from other things in the same genus
the faculty of discovery
Rhetoric's genus
means of persuasion
Rhetoric's differentia
the debatable
What is the central subject of rhetoric?
rhetorical situation
Each particular case in which an issue is debatable
Rhetor, subject, audience, means, end
What are the five variables of the rhetorical situation?
rhetor
The person speaking or writing, who must have self-knowledge and know what he or she does not know.
subject
This variable is the defined issue at hand about the matter.
audience
The person or people being spoken or written to.
purpose/end
Persuasion is the proximate ____ of rhetoric, while happiness is the ultimate _____.
Invention, Organization, Style, Memory, and Delivery
What are the five means of persuasion?
argument
A thesis statement that establishes what we want to persuade the audience to believe about the issue at hand.
proof
A logical argument that shows a statement is true, must be satisfying logically, emotionally, and ethically.
Political, legal, and ceremonial
What are the three genres of rhetoric?
Logical, emotional, ethical
What are the three appeals of rhetoric?
political rhetoric
This genre attempts to persuade or dissuade about the future, in order to achieve what is good. The most important genre because its goal concerns human happiness.
The good
What is the end of political rhetoric?
deliberative
Another word for political rhetoric
Finances, trade, national defense, war and peace, legislation
What five things does political rhetoric argue about?
happiness
Aristotle defines this as an activity of soul in accordance with virtue; prosperity combined with virtue or independence of life.
goodness
The standard we use to decide whether something is a good
a good
Something we desire for its own sake
degree
What is the central topic of invention in deliberative rhetoric?
Because the constitution is the governmental framework for political deliberation, choice, and action.
Why must the political rhetor be knowledgeable about the constitution of his or her government?
legal rhetoric
This genre attempts to prosecute or defend about the past, to achieve what is just.
The just
What is the end of legal rhetoric?
natural and particular
What are the two kinds of law?
natural law
Also known as universal law, this is agreed by all human beings.
specific law
This is also called particular law and is agreed to by members of a polity--a nation, state, or city.
Because of reason, anger, or desire
Why do people do wrong?
True
Aristotle considers all wrongdoing voluntary, true or false?
desire for goods or pleasures
What are the two causes of wrongdoing?
justice
The virtue of doing what is right generally; the proportional relationship between injustice and punishment.
equity
Instances where being the two instances of justice (doing what is right and proportional punishment) conflict, and such instances require this, a means of being fair or forgiving.
magnitude
What is the central topic of invention in legal rhetoric?
ceremonial rhetoric
This genre of rhetoric attempts to praise or blame in the present, to achieve what is beautiful.
The beautiful/noble
What is the end of ceremonial rhetoric?
the funeral oration
What is the most common instance of ceremonial rhetoric (to praise)?
satire
What is the most common instance of ceremonial rhetoric (to blame)?
virtue
What do we praise? It is the ability and practice of doing good for oneself and for other people.
vice
What do we blame? Aspects include injustice, cowardice, intemperance, and imprudence.
the noble/beautiful
That which is praiseworthy in itself and is pleasurable simply because it is good.
The happy life requires all three ends (goodness, justice, and nobility).
How are the three rhetorical genres discrete yet related?
the logical, the ethical, the emotional
What are the three appeals of rhetoric?
the logical
According to Aristotle, which appeal is most important?
common topic
A topic not specific to any one rhetorical genre but general or common to all three genres
definition, division, comparison, cause and effect, authority
What are the five common topics of invention?
special topic
A topic specific to one type of rhetorical genre or appeal.
example
a specific case used in a kind of induction, which provides concrete, vivid support for one's argument.
scientific and historical
What are the two kinds of example?
enthymeme
A form of reasoning from probable and implicit premises.
syllogism
A form of reasoning in which two premises lead to a conclusion not asserted in either premise.
ethical appeal
This appeal relies upon the observed behavior of the rhetor, without the appeal being obviously moralistic.
ethos
a word which means character; something we are rightly persuaded by.
Intellectual virtues, moral virtues, good will. (prudence, virtue, friendship).
What three characteristics of a rhetor does the audience find appealing?
emotional appeal
An appeal which attempts to improve the audience's judgment by stirring them to pain or pleasure.
emotions
Aristotle defines these as those pains and pleasures of soul that change our judgment, each responding to another person for a reason.
legitimate emotional appeal
...
illegitimate emotional appeal
...
arrangement
Another term for rhetorical organization.
whole
A part of an even greater whole; something composed of parts.
part
That which composes a whole, something that is always ___ of a whole.
Beginning, middle, end (introduction, body, conclusion)
What are the three major parts of persuasion?
Establishes ethos, subject matter, argument to be defended, and the parts of the middle.
What four things might a rhetor do in his or her introduction?
beginning
This is the part of persuasion which leads the listener or reader into the persuasion; it is the "pioneer" making or leading the way forward.
middle
This part of persuasion may include a narration of events but certainly includes the proofs in defense of one's argument, arranged in the best way possible.
Include the proofs in defense of one's argument.
What MUST one do in the middle of one's persuasion?
The rhetor's discretion; there is no best formula.
What dictates the order of proofs in the middle?
Include a narration of events.
What MIGHT one do in the middle of one's persuasion?
end
This part of persuasion must have the quality of fulfillment and completion. It should provide a destination.
1) dispose the audience to favor the rhetor and disfavor her opponent, 2) amplify its better points and diminish its weaker ones, 3) move the audience emotionally, 4) summarize the argument and proofs
What are the four things Aristotle says one can do in the end?
style
This sub-art of rhetoric concerns the how of the persuasion--the words and sentences carrying the audience through the ordered invention.
That it is correct, clear, appropriate, and lively
What are the four features of a good style?
rhythm
A matter of movement--the cadence of the style as it moves the reader through the argument.
pairs and triplets
What are the two numbered patterns into which phrases tend to fall?
simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
What are the four kinds of sentences?
simple sentence
This is a type of sentence with an independent clause with no subordinate clauses.
compound sentence
A sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions
complex sentence
A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause
compound-complex sentence
A sentence having two or more coordinate independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.
figure of speech
a device that enlivens prose, energizing the rhetor's argument, which either varies standard syntax or standard usage.
trope
a figure of speech which varies standard usage, or meaning.
scheme
a figure of speech which varies syntax, or word order.
parallelism
A scheme which involves symmetry. Occurs when similar ideas get placed in similar grammatical units ("These take as your model, and judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valor, never decline the dangers of war.")
antithesis
A scheme which involves symmetry. The contrast of content in parallel form ("Keep in mind that the least success comes by way of desire, and the most by planning ahead.")
ellipsis
A scheme which involves symmetry. The omission of words easily understood from context ("Judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valor.")
anaphora
A scheme which involves repetition. It is a form of repetition which repeats words or phrases at the beginnings of successive clause ("We are free and generous not only in our public activities... we are not offended by our neighbor... We live together without taking offense...")
anadiplosis
A scheme which involves repetition. This is using a word that ends one phrase to begin the next phrase ("Judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valor...").
metaphor
A trope in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable; X is Y. Concerned with identity.
simile
A trope of comparison of two unlike things using like or as; X is like Y. Concerned with likeness.
personification
A particular form/trope of metaphor in which something inanimate is described as animate.
irony
In rhetoric, a type of trope in which the rhetor says something to the audience that she does not actually believe in an enlivened tone.
rhetorical question
A trope/question which does not actually expect an answer.
sprezzatura
Art should not call attention to itself. This is the term for art that hides itself so that it appears natural.
False
Aristotle discusses Memory in his book on Rhetoric, true or false?
Identification assisted by location in space.
What is the key to memorization?
Memorizing the design and repetition
What are the two techniques of memorization?
the sub-art of organization
What sub-art is memorizing the design of a piece related to?
the sub-art of style
What sub-art is repetition of a piece related to?
memory
The sub-art of rhetoric which requires ordering; identification assisted by location in space.
delivery
The sub-art which requires gesture and sound; it requires enunciation, rhythm, and measure.
invention
This sub-art of rhetoric concerns the what of an argument.
organization
This sub-art of rhetoric concerns the in-what-order of the argument.
Enunciation, rhythm, measure
Why three features of delivery should be remembered?
Its social character: one may practice grammar or logic alone, but rhetoric requires more than one person.
Why is the art of rhetoric a consummate art of langauge?
In any act of speech or writing, the three arts are really part of one art of language, and there is seldom a need to distinguish the three sub-arts which are so very related.
What is the relationship between the arts of language and liberal education?
symbol
Grammar is the art of ____.
thought
Logic is the art of ____.
communication
Rhetoric is the art of _____.
liberal education
This is an end in and of itself; the study of the trivium. A curriculum of subjects should have at least the pretense of wholeness--the student should be introduced to universal knowledge to develop his or her mind such that the cosmos of learning is understood to be within oneself.
It is a means to the eventually useful good that is liberal education, but it is an ancillary art that can become a subject itself, too.
How can rhetoric be both a means and an end?
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