The Art of Persuasion and Rhetorics - Introduction for Erasmus+

Created for the educational purposes of the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange, called Human Rights and Democracy in the Age of Information Warfare

For more information about other European mobilities for young people, see the link below:

https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/opportunities/opportunities-for-organisations/learning-mobility-of-individuals/young-people-and-youth-workers

2. Plato
•Gorgias
•Rhetoric, in Plato's opinion,
i
s merely a form of flatte
ry
and functions similarly t
o
culinary arts, which ma
sk
the undesirabilit
y of
unhealthy food by making it
taste good.

3. Aristoteles
•Development of logic
•Syllogism
•All men are mortal.
S
ocrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is
mortal.
•Aristotle viewed the
rhe
torics as based on logic

5. •“There, where people sharpen
th
eir weapons, minds remain
blunt. There, where people
sharpen their minds, weapons
can stay blunt forever.”
- Me (like… 40 minutes
ago)
- An example of the abuse
of authority argument
(part of Ethos)

6. Argument to Moderation
•Always searching for the “middle ground” compromise isn’t always a
fa
ctual solution
•Argument 1: The Earth is flat.
•Argument 2: The Earth is round.
•Argument to Moderation: Is actually both flat and round, as it is, in
re
ality, a cube!

7. Other fallacies
•Suppressed c orrelative :
•I’m n because I’m taller than John.
•Drinking alcohol is not harmful because much more people die on
o
verdosing heroine.
•Divine f
: because something is so incredible or amazing , it
must be the result of superior, divine, alien or paranormal agency.
•Ad hominem: Attacking the person and not the arguments

8. If-By-Whiskey Example
•Noah S. Sweat, 1952, l awyer, prohibition law:
•All right, this is how I feel about whiskey:
•If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that
def
iles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, literally takes
the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man
and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation,
and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.
•But, if when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is
c
onsumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips,
and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the
stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you
mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for
a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of
which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for
our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build
highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

9. The Five Canons
1.I o
the development and refinement of an
argument
2
.Arrangement : used to determine how
an argument should be organized for
greatest effect,
3. Style : determining in what literary
style to present the arguments
4.
Memory : the process of learning
and
memorizing the speech and persuasive
messages
5
.Presentation and Delivery : t
he
gestures, pronunciation, tone, and pace
used when presenting the persuasive
arguments—the Grand Style.