Writing! Think About All The Ways We Write! Course Assignments Essays Proposals Research Papers Personal Writing Letters Diaries Email Social Networking Blog Website Business Applications Writing Letters Memos Email Manuals Proposals Documentation How Many Ways Do You Write? Whatever your mode, there are considerations that apply to effective communication that remain constant. First and foremost is this: Know your audience. As a way to introduce you to the heart and soul of effective communication, I offer to you an introduction from John Donne and a word from our sponsor Aristotle...
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. - John Donne Meditation 17 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
With Few Exceptions No Writer is an Island John Donne Rarely will you write without concern for how your audience will receive or respond to your words.
Rhetoric is the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion - Aristotle
Aristotle The First to separate rhetorical elements, The persuasive appeals of communicating Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms.
Ethos The appeals exerted by the speaker ethikos gr. showing moral character Moral competence Expertise Knowledge Your image as interpreted by your audience Project Confidence High Sense of Ethics Intelligence Accomplish this without seeming like a know-it-all or overly moralistic & turning off your audience
Pathos The appeals to the emotions or values of one s audience Creating a certain disposition in the audience - Aristotle Do not underestimate the importance of one s pathos; an effective pathos arouses reactions like Love Sympathy Fear Anger Pity Comfort Indignation
Logos Appeals to reason ~ The logical argument The core of argument It s tie to writing is crucial Enthymeme Chief way logical arguments are built Identifiers: because, since, for, therefore, so, thus, and hence Syllogism Breaks down claim or enthymeme Major premise: Animals that live in the nowmelting Alaskan Tundra are endangered Minor premise: Polar bears live in the Alaskan Tundra Claim/conclusion: Polar Bears are endangered
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man -made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court [which outlaws segregation in the public schools], for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter From a Birmingham Jail, 1963
Letter From a Birmingham Jail Enthymemes function as argumentative claims Syllogism - Final independent clause I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong Major Premise Laws that are morally wrong should be disobeyed Minor Premise Segregation ordinances are morally wrong Claim or Conclusion Segregation ordinances should be disobeyed
Visual Rhetoric Persuasion Never Underestimate the Power
Visual Rhetoric Persuasion Never Underestimate the Power
Visual Rhetoric Persuasion Never Underestimate the Power
Visual Rhetoric Persuasion Never Underestimate the Power Migrant mother Florence Thompson and children photographed by Dorothea Lange. Location: Nipomo, CA, US; Date taken: 1936