The Art and Craft of Persuasion

1
The Art and Craft of Persuasion

• Based upon
• Moser, Joyce, and Ann Watters, ed. Creating
  America Reading and Writing Arguments, 3rd Ed.
  New JerseyPrentice Hall, 2002.

2
Types of Appeals

• Ethos
• Based upon shared values and beliefs
• Ex. FDR, Pearl Harbor, and fair play
• Pathos
• Manipulates audience emotions
• Empathy
• Logos
• Logic and reason
• Induction and Deduction

3
Inductive Reasoning

• Generalize truth from number of observations
• MLK boy, motel, playground
• Faults
• Inadequate evidence
• Faulty conclusion
• leap of faith

4
Deductive Reasoning

• Begins with general principle and makes assertion
  based upon it
• Syllogism
• Enthymeme

5
Syllogism

• Major Premise Minor Premise Conclusion
• Major Premise All men are mortal
• Minor Premise Socrates is a man
• Conclusion Socrates is mortal

6
Enthymeme

• Assumes common knowledge
• Compresses syllogism
• Socrates, being a man, is mortal.

7
Errors in Logic

• Hasty Generalization
• Conclusion based upon too few example
• Two senators are millionaires, therefore all
  public officials are rich.
• Biased Sampling
• Examples drawn from a pool guaranteed to produce
  a certain conclusion

8
Errors in Logic continued

• Straw Man
• False Target
• Misstates opponents views
• False Analogy
• Suggests that two people/events are identical
  rather than similar
• Attacks the analogy rather than the issue

9
Errors in Logic continued

• Ad Hominem
• Attacks against individual holding the position
  rather than the position itself
• If I am young and right, what does age matter.
  Sophocles Antigone
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc
• After this, therefore because of this
• Correlation equals causation

10
Errors in Logic continued

• False Dilemma
• Either-or situation
• Boils down to only two choices
• Slippery Slope
• First step inevitably leads to disaster
• Begging the question
• Assuming something as a given that hasnt been
  proven

11
Errors in Logic continued

• Non Sequitor
• Placing two things next to each other to imply
  connection without providing any logical backing