Rhetoric Midterm Flashcards
In the Rhetorical Triangle, what is the message?
Information, evidence, argument reasons, data, structure
In the Rhetorical Triangle, what is Audience?
Their beliefs, values, knowledge, and experience.
In the Rhetorical Triangle, what role does the communicator have?
ethos (credibility), authority correctness, appearance, eloquence
What does AUDIENCE stand for?
Analysis Understanding Demographics Interest Environment Needs Customization Expectations
What is Analysis (AUDIENCE)?
Who is the audience?
What is Understanding (AUDIENCE)?
What is the audience’s knowledge of the subject?
What is Demographics (AUDIENCE)?
What is their background?
What is Interest (AUDIENCE)?
Why are they reading your document?
What is Environment (AUDIENCE)?
Under what circumstances, will this document be sent/viewed?
What is Needs (AUDIENCE)?
What are the audience’s needs associated with your document topic?
What is Customization (AUDIENCE)?
What specific interests should you address?
What is Expectations (AUDIENCE)?
What does the audience expect to learn from your document?
What do you have to keep in mind when addressing audience? (10)
age
gender
education
ethnicity
political philosophy
religious beliefs
roles (student, professional, parent, citizen, owner, etc.)
interests/hobbies
general or specialized knowledge concerning topic (– = +)
preconceptions concerning your topic
(likely to agree/disagree, eager/open or resistant)
What are audience values?
Beliefs in which one has an emotional investment–determine thought, belief, action, and opinion.
What is the difference between logical proof and rhetorical proof?
Logic deals with universal and certain truths where rhetorical proof deals with probable truths.
What is deduction?
Argument moves from a general stance inward.
What is induction?
Argument moves from a particular instance to similar instances to more general truth (usually based on experience)
Where does rhetorical reasoning come from?
Description, narration, statistics, and authorities.
What 2 things does ethos encompass?
Credibility of speaker and morality (based on values)
What are the other appeals? (5)
Tradition, Novelty (Modernity), Luxury, Authority, and commonality/simplicity
What is Kairos?
The precise or opportune moment, “supreme moment”
How is a deductive argument sound?
If the conclusion is logically derived from the premises.
Argument = ___________.
Premises + conclusion
What is an inference?
Conclusion about the unknown based on the known.
What is an assumption?
Usually something we learned previously and do not question.
How are inferences and assumptions compared?
Inferences are the conclusions based on the assumptions we have made due to previous experience.
Assuming that something is true before it is proven.
Begging the question
A personal attack on someone’s character rather than on the argument itself.
Ad hominem fallacy
An appeal to prejudices or inclinations–“majority”
Bandwagon (Ad populum) fallacy
Avoiding countering an argument by introducing something unrelated to the original argument.
Red-herring fallacy
A completely biased question where taking either side makes the person answering look bad.
Loaded-question fallacy
Ideas or actions are acceptable because of the people associated with them
Appeal to False Authority fallacy
Illogical conclusion based on poor evidence or faulty premises.
Non-sequitur fallacy
What hasn’t been proven true is false; what hasn’t been proven false is true.
Appeal to ignorance fallacy
A statement that uses a restatement of the argument as proof.
Circular argument fallacy
Arguing that the origins or genetics of a person, object, or institution determine its worth.
Genetic fallacy
Conclusion based on incomplete or insufficient biased evidence
Hasty generalization fallacy
Ignores the complexities, variations, or exceptions of the situation
Oversimplification fallacy
Where the words or phrases are ambiguous, therefore making the conclusion have more than one meaning or no meaning whatsoever.
Equivocation fallacy
Oversimplification reducing the options down to two when in reality more than two may exist
Either/or Fallacy (false dilemma)
Emphasizing one side of an argument and repressing the other
Card Stacking
Regarding something abstract as a material, physical thing (partially personification)
Hypostazation
Treating hypothetical situations as fact
Hypothesis contrary to fact
The pure naming of something explains it
Nominal fallacy
Ignoring a person’s actual position on the argument and substitutes an exaggerated or misrepresented version of the position.
Straw Man
To discredit what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information (either true or false) about the person.
Poisoning the well
A relatively small step leads to a chain of related events ending in an undesirable end.
Slippery slope
Desiring something to be true/false, and therefore concluding that it is true/false
Wishful thinking
Arguing that because B happened after A, A caused B
Post Hoc
Comparing two things to make a point when it is like comparing apples and oranges.
False Analogy
What are some statistical fallacies?
3-D Distortion, incomplete data (doesn’t go all the way to 0), misleading or incomplete labeling, differences in “average” (mean, median, and mode), insufficient documentation, and language that does not allow for another solution (750,000 will become pregnant)
