Learning Goals:
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When Aristotle wrote his Rhetoric in the 4th century BCE, he began a process of codifying the possible ways that speakers or writers could persuade their audiences by the use of evidence. His schema has proven so useful that it has been the foundation for philosophers and writers for more than a millennium, and will likely endure as long as civilization does. Aristotle's outline of the use of evidence for persuasive writing was just as useful for the ancients as it will be in the next century.
Evidence provides support for claims. Evidence is subcategorized according to how it is used to support the claim. Evidence that focuses on our ability to think is classified as rational appeal, evidence that focuses on our ability to 'feel' is emotional appeal, and evidence that focuses on our ability to trust those we find to be credible is ethical appeal.
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Rational Appeals
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Emotional Appeals
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Ethical Appeals
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For example, consider these quotes from President Clinton's 1996 State of the Union speech. Here Clinton combines all of the available means of persuasion for his given thesis:
"Before I go on, I would like to take just a moment to thank my own family, and to thank the person who has taught me more than anyone else over 25 years about the importance of families and children — a wonderful wife, a magnificent mother and a great First Lady. Thank you, Hillary" — showing himself to be a sensitive family man;
"I have heard Mrs. Gore say that it's hard to be a parent today, but it's even harder to be a child" — reminding listeners of the challenges children face; and
"To the media, I say you should create movies and CDs and television shows you'd want your own children and grandchildren to enjoy. I call on Congress to pass the requirement for a V-chip in TV sets so that parents can screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their children. When parents control what their young children see, that is not censorship; that is enabling parents to assume more personal responsibility for their children's upbringing. And I urge them to do it."
Those three examples above appeared early in the address. To get a better sense of how Clinton used those appeals, look at the whole passage from which I drew those examples:
"Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Family is the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we will have a stronger America. Before I go on, I would like to take just a moment to thank my own family, and to thank the person who has taught me more than anyone else over 25 years about the importance of families and children — a wonderful wife, a magnificent mother and a great First Lady. Thank you, Hillary.
All strong families begin with taking more responsibility for our children. I have heard Mrs. Gore say that it's hard to be a parent today, but it's even harder to be a child. So all of us, not just as parents, but all of us in our other roles — our media, our schools, our teachers, our communities, our churches and synagogues, our businesses, our governments — all of us have a responsibility to help our children to make it and to make the most of their lives and their God-given capacities.
To the media, I say you should create movies and CDs and television shows you'd want your own children and grandchildren to enjoy. I call on Congress to pass the requirement for a V-chip in TV sets so that parents can screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their children. When parents control what their young children see, that is not censorship; that is enabling parents to assume more personal responsibility for their children's upbringing. And I urge them to do it. The V-chip requirement is part of the important telecommunications bill now pending in this Congress. It has bipartisan support, and I urge you to pass it now.
To make the V-chip work, I challenge the broadcast industry to do what movies have done — to identify your programming in ways that help parents to protect their children. And I invite the leaders of major media corporations in the entertainment industry to come to the White House next month to work with us in a positive way on concrete ways to improve what our children see on television. I am ready to work with you."
You can read the full text of the address by visiting the White House web site:
As evidence of Aristotle's value to all sorts of people, from Presidents to professors, you might be interested in reading Garry Cosnett's The Art of Persuasion: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Sales Professionals, in which he demonstrates how Aristotelian concepts apply to "real" life, or Charles P. Campbell's Ethos: Character and Ethics in Technical Writing.
Next: Rational Appeal