Art of persuasion

Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2020

It seems that many English language learners have deficiency to write persuasively. This portent has been observed among university students, particularly those from technical fields. Therefore, the present study examines the use of ethos, pathos and logos in persuasive email writing and determines if these features were used appropriately. The participants involved in this research were 43 third-year Malaysian engineering students. The task evaluated was persuasive email writing, and the data was obtained from an official university website forum. The data was analysed qualitatively by using Aristotelian rhetorical theory. The results show that there were some persuasive techniques used by the students in their email writing. It appears that the appeal to pathos was preferred highly in directly connecting with the emotions of the instructors. This was followed by appeals to ethos, where the students used their own ethicality and credibility to persuade the instructor into giving them an extension deadline of their classwork. The findings further revealed that appeal to logos were not used in a very persuasive manner, which could also due to avoiding logical fallacies. Therefore, the present study shows the engineering students prefer to link with emotions in their email writing in achieving their goals. Key words: persuasive email, ethos, pathos, logos, engineering students

Polish Sociological Review, 2015

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the question to what extent contemporary politics is only the "eristic technique" skilled at introducing pathos and instrumentaly appealing to logos and ethos. Aristotle's rhetorical triad-logos, ethos,pathos-makes rhetoric the art of persuasive or honest communication. Applying methods developed by psychoanalysis and in reference to the work of Freud, Lacan, Searle, Laclau, Ranciere and Foucault author reflect on the premises, the shape and the consequences of contemporary sophistic politics. Author is tempted to test the intuition according to which the prototype of a method of communication is catachresis, a figure of speech in which a word or phrase has vastly departed from its traditional, paradigmatic usage.Keywords: communication community, distorted communication, excitable speech, illocutionary speech act, iterability, locutionary speech act, means of effecting persuasion, performative acts, perlocuti...

The ancient Greeks did not have lawyers. If you were arrested for a crime or sued, you had to defend yourself. Thus, for the Greeks, at least some education in rhetoric was essential. But it was not enough to be able to speak well, or to construct compelling speeches: one also had to come up with something to say. One had to invent arguments. This is where topoi came in. Put simply, the topoi (sing. topos) are argumentative moves. Aristotle and other rhetoricians coming after him in Greece, Rome, and elsewhere came up with various catalogues of topoi. Given a particular situation, one could go through such a catalogue and get ideas for how to deploy evidence, testimony, and existing law in one"s own favor, rather than merely trying out random arguments which might or might not fit one"s own particular situation and rhetorical needs.

In James Stanlaw (ed) The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell. , 2021

The term "persuasion" (derived from the Latin persuāsiō) is commonly used to denote a form of goal-oriented and audience-targeted use of language. While classical definitions tend to associate it with public speaking, persuasion can be pursued in a variety of social settings, through multiple discursive genres, channels (oral, written, nonverbal) and modalities (auditory, visual, tactile, etc.). Achieving persuasiveness requires the effective use of language and other semiotic resources (sounds, images, objects) with the aim of inducing specific attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in the target audience. While in certain domains of sociocultural life (e.g. courtship, politics, and advertising) persuasion is self-consciously deployed and discussed, the use of language to further an argument, form opinions, and influence behavior can be observed in a wide array of discursive and social settings, ranging from face-to-face interactions to digital platforms, from written scientific discourse to everyday conversation, from mass communication to the architectural organization of urban spaces and museum displays. Because the term is broad in scope and application, any attempt at defining it involves a metapragmatic endeavor (i.e. using language to reflexively discuss how language is used). Linguistic anthropologists and scholars working in related disciplines have contributed to this undertaking by highlighting how understanding what counts as persuasive communication in specific cultural and historical contexts always requires an ethnographic exploration of complex constellations of aesthetic, epistemological, and moral notions. Thus, far from being a clear-cut notion, persuasion is a layered metapragmatic construct, embedded in culturally and historically specific theories of mind, action, and intention, and connected to local ideologies of language and meaning. In Greek mythology, persuasion was personified as the goddess Peitho-a name related to the verb peíthein, meaning "to persuade" and "to inspire trust," and etymolog-ically related to the Latin fides ("faith"). Significantly, Peitho was associated both to the realm of erotic seduction (as denoted by her frequent depiction alongside Aphrodite) and to the civic sphere of rhetorical persuasion. In the Greco-Roman tradition, persuasion was the object of rhetoric, understood both as the practice of persuasive argumentation and as the study of the compositional structure of effective public speaking. The former approach, generally called rhetorica utens and primarily embraced by Isocrates, Cicero, and Quintilian, emphasized the technical-performative-prescriptive side of persuasive communication, and dictated the practical imperatives to gain assent by appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos-terms employed in Aristotle's Rhetoric to refer to the three main means of persuasion: the character of the speaker, the emotions of the listener, and the reasons of the argument itself. The latter approach, called rhetorica docens and generally associated with the Aristotelian school (and with the twentieth-century New Rhetoric of Kenneth Burke and Chaim Perelman), The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Edited by James M. Stanlaw.

CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education, 2020

This paper aims at investigating the linguistic devices used to carry out the persuasive functions of metadiscourse markers employed in David Beckham and Millie Bobby Brown's speeches at UNICEF, New York, November 20, 2019. It also aims at identifying the similarities and the differences between the various persuasive appeals and strategies employed in the speeches of those two celebrities. In order to carry out these goals, the research follows Conner and Lauer's (1985) model of persuasion and Dafouz-Milne's (2008) theory of metadiscourse markers. Results suggest that many subcategories of both textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers are found in the speeches of both goodwill ambassadors except for reminders, topicalisers and probability adverbs, but there are some variations in using them. Findings also prove that logical markers are the most used textual metadiscourse markers in both discourses and that the dominant interpersonal linguistic features in both speeches are those which belong to the category of commentaries. According to the use of different persuasive appeals, rational appeal is mostly used by Beckham and Millie.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 2019

Short story writing is a literary art whose creativity heavily depends upon the interplay between the writer and his influence upon the reader. There are four modes of discourse employed in creative writing: exposition, description, narration and persuasion. Exposition is concerned with the layout, style and organisation of events and the actors within them. It is the immediate revelation to the readers of the setting and other background information that is necessary for understanding the plot. Description employs the use of language terms in 'graphical' or picturesque representation of something or someone through detailed characterisation of colour, motion, sound, taste, smell and touch. Narration is the telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry or drama. Persuasion is a form of argumentation where the language employed is intended to convince, principally through appeals to reason or to emotion. This study is focalized on the mode of persuasion with the rhetorical and classical theories as the point of reference. The Greek philosopher Aristotle upheld the view that narration, whose essential purpose is to become persuasive, could only enjoy viability if it possessed the following appeals: ethos, logos, pathos and kairos. This study was a confirmation of Aristotle's contention across first language and second language English readers; this was underscored by an annexed anthology within the study, depicting divergent fictional settings and all emanating from the same writer, to which reading subjects from these variegated contexts were exposed. Thereafter comprehensive questionnaire covering various dimensions of ethos, logos, pathos and kairos was used to elicit the reader responses in regard to their appreciation and understanding of story. The study is useful not only in cementing the classical tradition, but also as an indication that even in modern rhetoric, logos and kairos must be regarded as basic in any communication while ethos and pathos are mainly appellative, although of relative importance.

he notion of persuasion in postmodern culture has to be reconceived. It is not to be equated with the modernist notion where it is essentially about being intellectually convinced of the veracity of an argument. It should, rather, be understood in classical terms. Ancient Greek and Roman civilisation was devoted to the dynamics of public-speaking. Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and others contributed to the development of the rhetorical art form. Aristotle"s seminal work, Rhetoric, was the standard text for the times. Aristotle had a particular genius for systematising knowledge and in this work he categorises the rhetorical art of persuasion in three divisions. Firstly, he deals with ethos, which focuses on the integrity of the speaker. Secondly, he deals with logos, which is about the inherent logic of the message itself. Thirdly, he deals with pathos, which is about the emotions evoked by the oration.

2014

This paper deals with the Golden Rules of Advocacy which have to be observed when ‘persuading’ a court or arbitral tribunal of the validity of an advocate’s arguments. It also deals with successful advocacy strategies that could be used in court or arbitration hearings.

Writing across the University of Alberta

Rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos, and logos are foundational concepts in Writing Studies courses. For this reason, we were delighted to read this succinct and insightful piece by Feisal Sharif about the appeal of logos. Feisal submitted this piece for a first-year Writing Studies course.

Brill, 2019