Argument Ploys, Tactics, and Logical Fallacies Flashcards
The erudition ploy
Overwhelm your audience with examples of the breadth or depth of your knowledge. An easily cowed audience will take your word for it rather than challenge you on specific points.
(Ethos)
The bragging gambit
Brag openly and hyperbolically if your audience is the type to appreciate it. (For example, it didn’t bother the fans of Mohammad Ali.)
(Ethos)
The character reference ploy
Get others to do your bragging for you.
Ethos
The tactical flaw ploy
Reveal a weakness that wins sympathy or shows the sacrifice you’ve made for the cause. Endear yourself by revealing your imperfection.
(Ethos)
The flip flop ploy
When an argument is doomed to go against you, heartily support the other side.
(Ethos)
The Eddie Haskell ploy
Make an inevitable decision look like a willing sacrifice on your part. In other words, when it seems that a decision won’t go your way, endorse it as proof of your disinterest and virtue. Short of open bribery, it’s the greatest sucking-up tool ever invented.
(Ethos)
The reverse Eddie Haskell ploy
Turn down an offer, saying you or someone close to you is not right for it.
(Ethos)
The reluctant conclusion
Act as though you felt compelled to reach your conclusion, despite your own desire not to believe it.
(Ethos)
The self-doubt ploy
(Dubitatio)
Show doubt about your own rhetorical skill. Lower expectations and convince the audience of your sincerity and authenticity. The best trick of all: make it seem like you have no tricks.
(Ethos)
The personal sacrifice ploy
Claim the choice will help the audience more than it will help you; even better, maintain that you will suffer from the decision.
(Ethos)
The sincerity ploy
Get your audience’s attention by disarming them: “I brought some prepared remarks, but after meeting some of you today I’ve decided to speak from the heart.”
(Ethos)
The reframing ploy
Reframe an argument by redefining a term or changing the terms of an argument. “It’s not ____; it’s _____.” The best correction makes you look more virtuous than your opponent by using a term that the audience values more.
(Ethos or Logos)
The vivid dream ploy
Describe your idea’s success in vivid detail as though the audience had already accomplished it.
(Ethos)
The I’ve got all the time in the world ploy
The petty functionaries of the world can either cut you a break or prepare to spend a long, long, long time on the phone with you.
(Ethos)
The humblebrag ploy
Using self-deprecating humor to brag (more socially acceptable than straightforward bragging).
(Ethos)
The Stalin technique
Don’t speak until the end of a meeting, waiting for others to exhaust their arguments, then step in, recapitulate what’s been said already, and frame the issue in a way favorable to your own opinion.
(Ethos)
The Hey Pal ploy
Interrupt your speaking to address a difference audience. This keeps your audience on their toes. You can point out a different audience, even a virtual audience, or someone in the audience.
(Ethos)
The ironic distance ploy
Distance yourself from a overly pathetic (emotional) appeal.
Ethos
The emotional refusal ploy
When being bullied or heckled, refuse to show the emotion the bully wants. Gain an audience’s sympathy by trying to look calm and above it all.
(Ethos)
The joke ploy
Lighten the mood by making a joke. Good as a distraction, not for changing someone’s mind, usually. (Might help ethos though.)
(Ethos)
The banter ploy
A form of attack and defense consisting of clever insults and snappy comebacks. The object is to outinsult your opponent. May help cement relationships.
(Ethos)
The how would you put it ploy
“I’m sorry. How would you have put it?” Instead of getting defensive, you put your own words in their mouth.
(Ethos)
The if loving you is wrong defense
Someone says you’re doing something the wrong way. Point out when the person has been wrong about something else and say, if that’s the right way, I’ll do it the wrong way, thanks.
(Ethos)
The dodged question ploy
Ask who benefits from this choice. If you don’t get a straight answer, don’t trust the person’s disinterest.
(Ethos)
The comparable experience ploy
The practically wise persuader shows examples from his own life.
(Ethos)
The cut to the chase ploy
A trustworthy, practically wise persuader sees your actual needs even if you haven’t mentioned them. Can the person cut to the chase of an issue?
(Ethos)
The ironic love ploy
A bully wants you to cower or blush or run away in embarrassment. If you want to reverse the power dynamic, try pretending deep affection with just a little bit of pity. This kind of irony works best if your audience can see right through it. It’s really hard for a bully to respond to a loving, slightly pitying smile.
(Ethos)
The virtuous pose ploy
To win over your audience, show that you’re the better person. Respond to the bully’s heckling by calmly offering a conversation later (even if you want to kill him). Don’t show negative emotions, and seem slightly disappointed when the bully refuses to calmly talk it over with you.
(Ethos)
The aggressive interest ploy
Respond to a political bully by feigning sympathetic curiosity while continually asking for definitions of terms, details, and sources.
(Ethos)
The oh, you shouldn’t have ploy
(Accismus).
Acting coy.
Cheapskate: “No, let me… Really? Are you sure?”
(Ethos)
The code grooming ploy
Use insider language to get an audience to identify with you and your idea. Use language unique to the group, and as long as you don’t apply it indecorously, you’ll get in tight with your audience. Code language determines who’s in and out of a group. Find specific commonplace terms that make a group bond, and use them again and again and again.
(Ethos)
The Bushism ploy
Use logic-free speech full of code grooming.
Ethos
The reverse words ploy
Repeat the terms that express the opposite of your weakness or your opponent’s stance. Repeat the words that mean the opposite of what hurts your case.
Opponent: your department is failing to meet its goals. Wrong answer: it’s not really failing.
Right answer: well, we aren’t breaking records yet.
Significant other (looking fat): does this make me look fat? Wrong answer: no, not that fat at all. Right answer: it doesn't make you look thin.
Wrong: “We hadn’t anticipated the violent reaction to the invasion.”
Reverse words: “We are welcomed, but it was not a peaceful welcome.”
(Ethos)
The negative endorsement ploy
(Your boss’s despised predecessor) Larry would have loved that idea. Risky though, potentially linking you to the wrong person.
(Ethos)
The name-dropping ploy
Make yourself seem important by associating yourself with important people.
(Ethos)
The challenge as opportunity ploy
Turn a problem into identity rhetoric.
“Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
(Ethos)
The you’ll do better next time ploy
Admonish your audience by flattering it.
“America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country this.”
“Oh, Sadie! You don’t do things like that. You’re a good girl.”
(Ethos)
The honor the deceased ploy
Channel the ethos of a great character by using characteristic verbal strategies of the deceased.
“In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for equality, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.”
(Ethos)
The act cute ploy
Act in a manner so cute and endearing, the other person wants to do your bidding to please you. Works best for babies and pets.
(Ethos)
The concession ploy
Concede your opponent’s point in order to win what you want.
Logos
The anticipatory concession ploy
Agree in advance to what the other person is likely to say.
Logos
Antithesis
Contrast two thoughts by putting them side by side.
Logos
The Goldilocks technique
Put the option you want someone else to decide on in the middle between two extremes. For instance, in a store, put a mid-priced item between a cheap piece of junk and an expensive luxury item.
(Logos)
The doubt ploy
(Aporia)
Wonder openly or admit you can’t fathom a reason, and the audience will unconsciously start reasoning for you. Without even knowing it, they comfortably get inside your head.
(Logos)
