Rhetoric Terms Test Flashcards
One of the primary ideas of rhetoric: finding what to say. The discovery of arguments, and what to argue for. Arguably the main canon of rhetoric because of this.
Invention (inventio)
Organizing one’s matter of speech to be clear, persuasive, and memorable. Something that the audience can understand, pay attention to, believe, and remember. This is done through the structure of sufficient arguments, a strong thesis statement, and reason.
Arrangement (dispositio)
The type/mode of communication and/or writing that one chooses to deliver their argument. Typically broken down into expository, persuasive, and narrative style in modern day, but in classic times was as simple as low, middle, and high (regarding how difficult it would be for common folk to perceive as a speech.)
Style (elocutio)
Another large proponent of classic rhetoric - memorization. The ability to memorize one’s speech and argument from the heart with minimal reference to notes or original writing material.
Memory (memoria)
To be graceful and fluent when delivering your speech/argument, to not show too much humility or signs of arrogance. To perfectly and justly deliver your speech in an appropriate and virtuous manner.
Performance/Delivery (pronuntiatio)
One of three types of rhetoric distinguished by Aristotle. Argues for the future, for consequence of action, on policy, commonly addressed inventions such as what is advantageous and disadvantageous.
Deliberative oratory
Also identified by Aristotle - sometimes called forensic oratory. This rhetoric often refers to the past and past actions of a person/entity to defend their current situation, often in legal discourse.
Judicial oratory
Also identified by Aristotle - sometimes called epideictic oratory. Used for show, literally translated to “on display” or the like. Rhetoric that is used at festivals, gatherings, rallies, so on, to discuss the here and now and what is happening.
Demonstrative oratory
The persuasive appeal of character and credibility of a figure. Simply the the composure and history of the one speaking is enough to grant authority on the topic.
Ethos
A persuasive appeal to emotion. This method is meant to arouse emotions within the audience to call them to action or to simply better understand the point being made.
Pathos
The persuasive appeal to reason. Aristotle seems to think this is the greatest appeal, but the other two form naturally from the faults of human nature. Only pure fact and logic are used, appealing to a known truth of the orator.
Logos
A type of logical reasoning/argument where one uses two separate, known-to-be-true, idea statements to come to a conclusion. If the two proposals are true, then so should be the end product. (ex: All men are mortal, Socrates is a man; Socrates is therefore mortal.)
Syllogism
Basic ideas and categories among ideas. Topics of thought.
Topoi
Suddenly addressing a new audience in one’s speech or referencing one, usually by way of calling upon dead historical figures, other absent ideas, or objects.
Apostrophe
Expressing doubt or uncertainty or instilling it in others through your speech, whether genuine or faked.
Dubitation
Two primary terms/words out of many that describe short and fluttery sayings. (ex: birds of a feather flock together, actions speak louder than words)
Sententia/gnome
Great exaggeration, typically done via metaphors and similes.
Hyperbole
Questioning others, ideas, or ideals within one’s speech - proposing the rhetorical questions.
interrogatio/erotema
The answer that one gives to their own line of rhetorical questions in a speech. Reasoning aloud.
Subiectio/hypophora
Placing two often opposite ideas alongside one another. A compressed paradox.
Oxymoron
Speaking in a narrative fashion on behalf of/a way that would be fitting for dramatic flair or to interpret a person/concept. Narrative personification.
Sermocinatio/prosopopoeia
Repetition of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
Anaphora
Calling attention to your argument/point by purposefully dismissing it or pushing it aside. (example: it would be unseemly for me to dwell on Senator Kennedy’s drinking problem, and too many have already called out his womanizing, and so-)
Praeteritio/paraleipsis
Repetition of a word or group of words at the end of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
Epiphora
Employing many conjuctions within a clause, typically to give a slowing effect or new tempo.
Polysyndeton
The purposeful admission of articles and conjunctions in a clause to give a sense of hurried rhythm or effect. (ex: I came, I saw, I conquered.)
Asyndeton
An inversion of common word order or adding an unneeded word to a complete idea to draw emphasis. (ex: Why should their liberty than ours be more?)
Hyperbaton
A comparison made by referring to one thing as another.
Metaphor
A deliberate understatement, especially by denying the objective opposite of a thought. (ex: It isn’t very serious. I have a tiny little tumor on my brain.)
Litotes
A series of similarly constructed words/phrases/elements having the same length. A variant of parallelism. (ex: I came, I saw, I conquered. Each idea has two words each.)
Isocolon
Reference to someone/something by naming one of its great attributes. (ex: We await word from the crown, Well I heard he gave her a diamond ring-)
Metonymy
A figure of speech consisting of the reversal of a natural or rational order.
Hysteron/Proteron
Juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas (often, although not always, in parallel structure). (ex: it can’t be wrong if it feels so right)
Antithesis
The repetition of the last word (or phrase) from the previous line, clause, or sentence at the beginning of the next (ex: The love of wicked men converts to fear, That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both
To worthy danger and deserved death.)
Anadiplosis
Speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest. (ex: O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.)
Ironia
Departure from normal word order for the sake of emphasis. Often a synonym for hyperbaton, but also a specific variant of it where only one word is out of order. (ex: rises the moon)
Anastrophe
Repetition of ideas in inverted order. (ex: it is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling.)
Chiasmus
Generally, the arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance, often in parallel structure. More specifically, climax is the repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next, through several clauses or sentences (ex: Miss America was not so much interested in serving herself as she was eager to serve her family, her community, and her nation.)
Climax
Breaking off suddenly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray being overcome with emotion.
Aposiopesis
The use of a word in a context that differs from its proper application. (ex: The podcast included a soundseeing tour of London’s theatre district.)
Catachresis
Deliberating with oneself as though in doubt over some matter; asking oneself (or rhetorically asking one’s hearers) what is the best or appropriate way to approach something.
Aporia
The absence of conjunctions between single words. Compare asyndeton. The effect of brachylogia is a broken, hurried delivery.
Brachylogy
The anticipation and answering of possible objections in rhetorical speech; flashforward
Prolepsis
An occurence in writing of the same or similar endings near each other (neighboring clauses or lines).
Homoioteleuton
An interchange of two elements in a phrase or sentence from a more logical to a less logical relationship. (ex: “a mind is a terrible thing to waste” for “to waste a mind is a terrible thing”)
Hypallage
Omission of a word or short phrase easily understood in context. (ex: John forgives Mary and Mary, John.)
Ellipse
The substitution of grammatically different but semantically equivalent constructions. (“I consumed the pizza” becomes “The pizza was consumed by me)
Enallage
Expressing a single idea by two nouns instead of a noun and its qualifier. A method of amplification that adds force. (ex: we’ll be open rain or snow!)
Hendiadis
Consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length.
Hypophora
Substituting a distasteful idea with a more favorable variant/socailly delicate term. (ex: He passed away.)
Euphemism
A parallelism of sound between the words of adjacent clauses whose lengths are approximately equal in size.
Paromoiosis
A passing over with brief mention to emphasize the suggestiveness of what is omitted.
Paraleipsis
The use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. (ex: buzz)
Onomatopoeia
Appeal to Nature; The belief or suggestion that “natutal” is better than “unnatural.”
Ad Naturam
A figure of speech in which a word is used to modify two other words in different ways. (ex: She broke his car and his heart)
Zeugma
Appeal to the People; Occurs when one suggests too strongly that someone’s claim or argument is correct simply because it’s what most people believe
Ad Numeram
Occurs when two or more clauses have the same number of syllables.
Parisosis
A play on words; pun
Paronomasia
Using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant
Periphrasis
Using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant
Pleonasm
Appeal to Tradition; An idea is claimed to be correct because it’s the way it was often done in the past.
Ad Antiquitatem
Bandwagon; Occurs when one suggests that someone’s claim is correct simply because it’s what most everyone is coming to believe (ex: More and more people are buying sports utility vehicles. It is time you bought one, too.)
Ad Novitatem
Occurs in our reasoning if we conclude that someone’s argument not to perform some act must be faulty because the arguer himself or herself has performed it. (ex: Look who’s talking. You say I shouldn’t become an alcoholic because it will hurt me and my family, yet you yourself are an alcoholic, so your argument can’t be worth listening to.)
Tu Quoque/What-About-ism
“to the person” “directed at the person”; Your reasoning contains this fallacy if you make an irrelevant attack on the arguer and suggest that this attack undermines the argument itself. (ex: What she says about Johannes Kepler’s astronomy of the 1600s must be just so much garbage. Do you realize she’s only fifteen years old?)
Ad Hominem
Appeal to the People; Occurs when one suggests too strongly that someone’s claim or argument is correct simply because it’s what most people believe
Ad Populum
Appeal to Ignorance; Occurs in cases where absence of evidence is not good enough evidence of absence. The fallacy uses an unjustified attempt to shift the burden of proof. (ex: Nobody has ever proved to me there’s a God, so I know there is no God.)
Ad Ignorantium
Appeal to Fear; When fear, not based on evidence or reason, is used as the primary motivator to rally support for an idea.
Ad Metum
Appeal to Emotions; When someone’s appeal to you to accept their claim is accepted merely because the appeal arouses specific emotions
Ad Misericordiam
Appeal to authority; Occurs when one backs up their reasoning by saying that it is supported by what some “authority” says on the subject; typically the “authority” is not really an authority on the subject
Ad Verecundiam
“With this, therefore because of this”; A False Cause Fallacy that depends on the correlation of the “cause” being in the presence of the “effect”. (ex: Loud musicians live near our low-yield cornfields. So, loud musicians must be causing the low yield.)
Cum Hoc Ergo/Propter Hoc
Occurs when a conclusion is drawn that is irrelevant to the premises; it misses the point.
Ignoratio/Elenchi
Appeal to Beg; A fallacy in which a conclusion is taken for granted in the premises; begging the question (ex: “Gregory always votes wisely.” “ But how do you know?” “ Because he always votes Libertarian.”)
Petitio Principii
Improperly concluding that one thing is a cause of another.
Non Causa Pro Causa
Occurs when a conclusion is supported only by extremely weak reasons or by irrelevant reasons. (ex: entirety of Trump’s political career)
Non Sequitur
Occurs when one makes a hasty connection between two events. (correlation equates causation) (ex: Polio cases and ice cream sales idea; high ice cream sales causes Polio outbreaks)
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
A form of argument that seeks to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absurdity or contradiction. (ex: “She wants to perform transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.”)
Reductio ad Absurdum
The fallacy of ignoring qualifications.
Secundum quid et simpliciter
A kind of Ad Hoc Rescue of one’s generalization in which the reasoner re-characterizes the situation solely in order to escape refutation of the generalization.
No true Scotsman
Caused by overemphasizing random results or making selective use of coincidence.
Texas Sharpshooter
Occurs whenever you attribute an easily refuted position to your opponent, one that the opponent would not endorse, and then proceed to attack the easily refuted position to undermine their actual position.
Strawman
Occurs when the critic attempts to discredit or support a claim or an argument because of its origin (genesis) when such an appeal to origins is irrelevant. (ex: Whatever your reasons are for buying that gift, they’ve got to be ridiculous. You said yourself that you got the idea for buying it from last night’s fortune cookie. Cookies can’t think!)
Genetic fallacy
Composition occurs when someone mistakenly assumes that a characteristic of some or all the individuals in a group is also a characteristic of the group itself; Division occurs when someone mistakenly assumes that a characteristic of a group is also a characteristic of the individuals within that group.
Composition/division
Saying that a compromise, or middle point, between two extremes is the truth.
Middle ground
A form of inconsistency in which the reasoner doesn’t apply his or her principles consistently. (ex: I am pro-life, but my mistress is allowed an abortion.)
Special Pleading
Occurs when the gambler falsely assumes that the history of outcomes will affect future outcomes. (ex: I know this is a fair coin, but it has come up heads five times in a row now, so tails is due on the next toss.)
Gambler’s fallacy
Occurs when the explanation contains a claim that is not falsifiable, because there is no way to check on the claim. That is, there would be no way to show the claim to be false if it were false. (ex: He lied because he’s possessed by demons.)
Unfalsifiability
A false dilemma fallacy that limits you unfairly to only two choices. (ex: If you don’t donate to our fund, you’re pro-environmental destruction.)
Black or White
Saying that because one finds something difficult to understand, it’s therefore not true. (ex: the Helen Keller debate)
Personal Incredulity
When someone makes an initial claim that leads to a chain of causes and effects with a final, irrational, and unacceptable conclusion. (ex: drinking caffeine will lead to hard-core drug use)
Slippery slope
Asking a question in a way that unfairly presumes the answer. This fallacy occurs commonly in polls, especially push polls, which are polls designed to push information onto the person being polled and not designed to learn the person’s views.
Loaded Question
When someone implies falsely (and usually indirectly) that the two sides on some issue have basically equivalent evidence, while knowingly covering up the fact that one side’s evidence is much weaker.
False Equivalence
Presuming that because a claim has been poorly argued, or a fallacy has been made, that the claim itself must be wrong.
Fallacy fallacy
