COMS 4505 Chapter Notes - Chapter n/a: Troy Mcclure, Degenerative Disease, Pathos

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Communication and Media Studies
• Course: COMS 4505
• Professor: Howard Fremeth

Document Summary

Aristotle said that the basic job of the rhetorician was to discover the best available means of persuasion. That(cid:859)s (cid:449)hat is (cid:373)ea(cid:374)t (cid:271)(cid:455) (cid:862)i(cid:374)(cid:448)e(cid:374)tio(cid:374)(cid:863): (cid:374)ot (cid:373)aki(cid:374)g thi(cid:374)gs up, (cid:271)ut e(cid:454)plori(cid:374)g (cid:449)hat there is to say on a subject. The (cid:449)ord(cid:859)s root (cid:373)ea(cid:374)s to (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:373)e upo(cid:374)(cid:863) so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g: to fi(cid:374)d (cid:449)hat(cid:859)s a(cid:448)aila(cid:271)le to (cid:271)e said. Invention is doing your homework thinking up in advance exactly what arguments can be made both for and against a given proposition, selecting the best on your own side, and finding counterarguments to those on the other. There will almost always be more lines of argument available than it will be possible or prudent to use. The skill is to find the ones that will hold most sway with your intended audience. Aristotle, for instance, sets out in rhetoric a whole series of characteristics that distinguish young people from old.