Year 8 The Art of Persuasion

The Art of Persuasion
Rhetoric and all

Year 8
Lesson Intention and Success Criteria
Lesson Intention
• I will effectively identify and utilise persuasive techniques.
Success Criteria:
• Define rhetoric
• Unpack ethos, pathos, logos and kairos
• Analyse persuasive speeches

Rhetoric-Definition
• Rhetoric is the art of persuasion language.
• Writers and speakers use rhetoric to convince their
audience to do/think something.
• Rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse.
Discourse is the formal exchange of ideas in
conversation.
• Grammar, logic and rhetoric were essential to classical
education (according to Plato’s dialogues).
• These three are known as Trivium in the Middle Ages.
The
Rhetorical
Triangle
Three Pillars of Persuasion
1. Ethos
• Greek word meaning ‘character’. In terms of persuasive language, it is
an appeal to authority and credibility. Ethos is a means of convincing
an audience of the reliable character or credibility of the
speaker/writer, or the credibility of the argument.
• An ethos-based argument will include a statement that makes use of
the speaker or writer’s position and knowledge.
• According to Aristotle, we’re more likely to trust people who we
perceive as having good sense, good morals, and goodwill
Three Pillars of Persuasion (cont.)
2. Pathos
• Greek word meaning ‘suffering’ or ‘experience’, and it is used in persuasive
speech as an appeal to the emotions of the audience.
• Example: If you tell a story that draws your audience to be emotionally
involved, they are likely to be persuaded.
• If an audience is experiencing one emotion and it’s necessary to your
argument that they feel another, you can counterbalance the unwanted
emotion with the desired one.
• What are the dichotomies for the following emotions?
Anger; friendship; fear; confidence; shame; kindness; pity ; envy
Three Pillars of Persuasion (cont.)
3. Logos
• Greek word meaning ‘a word’ or ‘reason’. In rhetoric, it is an appeal to logic
and reason. It is used to persuade an audience by logical thought, fact and
rationality.
• There are two common approaches to logos: deductive and inductive
arguments
1. Deductive: build on statements to reach a conclusion
• Example: All men are mortal, and Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates
must be mortal.
2. Inductive: a probable argument based on eliminating the impossible and
ending with sound logic and fact. These are based on generalisations.
• Example: All people with a cough have a cold. Kelly has a cough. Therefore,
Kelly likely has a cold.
• List out other forms of logos in our world.
Kairos
• Kairos is the Greek word meaning ‘the right, critical or opportune moment’.
• The time in which an argument is deployed is as important as the argument
itself.
• An argument at the wrong time/to the wrong audience is wasted. Always
consider your audience.
• Example: If you wanted to persuade people to go vegetarian, the middle of a
hot dog-eating contest is probably not the right time.
• In essence, kairos asks you to consider the context and atmosphere of the
argument you’re making. How can you deploy your argument better
considering time and space? Should you wait, or is time of the essence?
Decorum
"Your language will be appropriate if it expresses emotion and character, and if it
corresponds to its subject. 'Correspondence to subject' means that we must neither speak
casually about weighty matters, nor solemnly about trivial ones... To express emotion, you
will employ the language of anger in speaking of outrage; the language of disgust and
discreet reluctance to utter a word when speaking of impiety or foulness; the language of
exultation for a tale of glory, and that of humiliation for a tale of pity and so on in all other
cases. This aptness of language is one thing that makes people believe in the truth of your
story: their minds draw the false conclusion that you are to be trusted from the fact that
others behave as you do when things are as you describe them; and therefore they take your
story to be true, whether it is so or not."
-Aristotle, Rhetoric
Define decorum based on the quote above.
•

Year 8 The Art of Persuasion

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Year 8 The Art of Persuasion

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Year 8 The Art of Persuasion

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Art of Persuasion

Rhetoric and all

• I will effectively identify and utilise persuasive techniques.

• Unpack ethos, pathos, logos and kairos

• Analyse persuasive speeches

You might also like