Means of Persuasion

1. Means of Persuasion Inventing things to Say

2. Internal vs. External • Internal • Your words, invented purposefully to persuade your audience • External • Words of others brought into your speech for support

3. External Support • Statistics/data • Laws • Quotations • Testimony • Experts and authorities • Witnesses

4. Ethos: The Persuasiveness of Character • Appeals to Character, Authority, Credibility • Audience’s respond to speakers who show: • Good judgment • Good deeds (virtue) • Benevolence (best interest of the audience in mind)

5. Ethos: The Persuasiveness of Character • Appeals to Character, Authority, Credibility • As a longtime member of Amnesty International, an activist for prison reform, and a practicing psychiatrist working in state and federal penitentiaries, the issue of prisoner abuse is part of my everyday life. (character of the speaker) • We Americans, as a people long committed to the ideals of freedom and equality before the law must take a stand here and act with conscience as our guide. (character of the audience)

6. Ethos: The Persuasiveness of Character • “That’s my judgment as Commander-in-Chief. But I’m also the President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. So even though I possess the authority to order military strikes, I believed it was right, in the absence of a direct or imminent threat to our security, to take this debate to Congress. I believe our democracy is stronger when the President acts with the support of Congress. And I believe that America acts more effectively abroad when we stand together.” (President Obama, Remarks on Syria)

7. Pathos: The persuasive passions • Appeals to the emotions; putting your audience in a mood • “…on that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons…” (narrative as mood-setting)

8. Pathos: The persuasive passions • “I am very mindful that mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts. I can only hope it helps to know that you’re not alone in your grief; that our world too has been torn apart…” (Obama’s remarks after Newtown).

9. Logos: giving good reasons • Appeals in discourse to make a judgment about something uncertain based on reasonable assumptions about what you do know and believe–

10. Logos: giving good reasons • Appeals in discourse to make a judgment about something uncertain based on reasonable assumptions about what you do know and believe– • Logos often deals with what is probable… but not necessary.

11. Logos: giving good reasons • “We know the Assad regime was responsible. In the days leading up to August 21st, we know that Assad’s chemical weapons personnel prepared for an attack near an area where they mix sarin gas. They distributed gasmasks to their troops. Then they fired rockets from a regime-controlled area into 11 neighborhoods that the regime has been trying to wipe clear of opposition forces. Shortly after those rockets landed, the gas spread, and hospitals filled with the dying and the wounded. WE know senior figures in Assad’s military machine reviewed the results of the attack, and the regime increased their shelling of the same neighborhoods in the days that followed. We’ve also studied samples of blood and hair from people at the site that tested positive for sarin. (Obama’s address on Syria

12. Logos: giving good reasons • “What happened to those people—to those children—is not only a violation of international law, it’s also a danger to our security. Let me explain why…” (Obama’s address on Syria

13. Logos: giving good reasons • “We American’s are not inherently a more violent people than folks are in other countries. We’re not inherently prone to mental health problems. The main different that sets our nation apart, what makes us so susceptible to so many mass shootings is that we don’t do enough, we don’t take the basic common sense actions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. What’s different in America is it’s easy to get your hands on a gun.” (Obama’s address after the Navy Yard Shootings)