A piece of argumentation that attempts to p ersuade especially by means other than the presentation of good evidence Rhetoric Rhetoric vs Logic Logic is aimed at truth Rhetoric is aimed at inducing ID: 657450
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Slide1
RhetoricSlide2
T
he
art of persuasion
A piece of argumentation that attempts to persuade especially by means other than the presentation of good evidence.
RhetoricSlide3
Rhetoric vs. Logic
Logic is aimed at
truth
.Rhetoric is aimed at inducing belief.‘
R
hetoric
’ is usually a pejorative term among
philosophers
.
F
or
our purposes, rhetoric
not as
a
means
of manipulating others but as
an
obstacle
to
truth
.
Rhetoric:
nonlogical
(
nonrational
) modes of
persuasion
.Slide4
Aristotle
People are more easily persuaded if they think that something has been established by argument
even if no real argument has been
given.Slide5
M
otivated
inference
:emotional investment (pro or con) leads to selective collection, interpretation of evidence.Motivated
intuition
:
a claim just seems right, without our even thinking we have evidence for
it
.
Influencing, bypassing reasonSlide6
Creating negative (or positive) associations with a claim tends to bypass reason, make that claim seem false (or true
)
.
Abusive ad hominem: “he says that p, but he’s a child molester.”Argumentum ad Hitlerum: “you know who else believed p? Hitler!”
ad populum
: “everyone else believes p, so
p
.
”
Abuses of emotive rhetoricSlide7
A
ppeal
to force (
argumentum ad baculum): using threats to produce agreement.Often by intimidation: “anyone who disagrees is obviously an idiot!”
A
ppeal
to pity (
argumentum ad misericordiam
): invoking pity/guilt to produce belief: “this accusation has ruined my client’s reputation, his marriage, and his job
prospects”
is no evidence that the accusation is
false
.
Abuses of emotive rhetoricSlide8
Language of ArgumentsSlide9
Emotionally
charged
language
Rhetoric often attempts to bypass reasoning by direct appeal to emotions.Use of
connotation
to sway audience
“It’s hard to be against a bill that says that once a baby’s heart is beating, you shouldn’t take his life.”Slide10
Emotionally
charged
language
Rhetoric often attempts to bypass reasoning by direct appeal to emotions.Use
of
connotation
to sway
audience
:
“It’s hard to be against a bill that says that once a
baby
’s heart is beating, you shouldn’t take
his
life.”Slide11
Emotionally
charged
language
‘Pro-life’ vs. ‘pro-choice’‘Anti-choice
extremist’ vs. ‘abortion-loving baby-killer’
‘
B
aby
’ vs. ‘parasite’Slide12
Converse:
euphemism
“
Product of conception” rather than “fetus”“Would you force a woman to have sex with you if you could get away with it?”
50% said yes
“Would you rape a woman if you could get away with it?”
15% said yes
!
!Slide13
“Terrorists should be
punished
.”“Freedom fighters should be punished.”
Emotional connotation sometimes depends on audience.“progressive” at Huffington Post“progressive” on Glenn Beck showSlide14
Is neutral language possible?
Is neutral language desirable?Slide15
Sloganeering and cliche
W
ell-worn
sayings with unclear meanings make you feel like an argument has been given.“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
.
”
“You need to think outside the
box
.
”
“What doesn’t kill us makes us
stronger
.
”
“You get what you pay
for
.
”Slide16
Vivid example
U
nfortunately
, often more convincing than actual statistics due to availability heuristic.F
allacy
of misleading vividness: allowing the vividness of an example to influence your belief in a statistical or probabilistic
claim
.Slide17
Vagueness vs. ambiguity
Vague:
imprecise; having poorly defined
boundaries.baldshort
Ambiguous:
having two or more distinct, nonoverlapping,
meanings
.
bank
flying planes can be dangerous (amphiboly)Slide18
Fallacy of equivocation
Using ambiguous term in two different
ways
.My nephew is still just a kid.A kid is a baby goat.
My nephew is a baby
goat
.Slide19
Fallacy of equivocation
Using ambiguous term in two different
ways
.My nephew is still just a kid.
A
kid
is a baby
goat
.
My nephew is a baby
goat
.Slide20
Equivocation?
A
1
-day-old embryo is a living human being.It is morally wrong to kill a living human being, except in self-defense.It is morally wrong to kill a
1-day-old
embryo
.Slide21
Equivocation?
A
1-day-old
embryo is a living human being
.
It is morally wrong to kill a
living human being
, except in
self-defense
.
It is morally wrong to kill a
1-day-old
embryo
.
m
etabolically
active human tissue
f
ull-fledged
, autonomous person
Some pro-choice people would only accept these premises if the key term shifts meaning in the two
premises
.Slide22
Definitions
N
ecessary
and sufficient conditions that capture the meaning of a
term
.
M
ust
do justice to
already existing
meaning
.Slide23
Two exceptions
Stipulative definition
: introduction of new term, or technical use of old
term.Avoid
misunderstandings, etc.
Persuasive definition
: sneak extraneous features, often emotive, into
definition
.
e.g., “homosexual” means “having unnatural desire for those of same
sex
.
”Slide24
Fallacy of
m
any
questions:e.g., “When did you stop beating your wife?”i.e., p and q, or p and not-q?Presupposes
p, without giving opponent chance to deny
it
.
Related
f
allacySlide25
Fallacies vs.
p
ersuasive (
rhetorical) tricksFallacy: mistake in reasoning, argument that fails to support conclusion
.
Rhetorical trick: doesn’t attempt to offer
argument
.
bypass reasoning altogether, manipulate belief formation by engaging the intuitive processor
I
f
you
want to be in charge of your belief, make sure the conscious rule-follower is
engaged
.