Three Modes of Persuasion Qualitative/Quantitative September 2011 Rhetoric: Communication Techniques
Three Artistic Proofs Aristotle believed the goal of argumentative writing is to persuade to your audience that your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else’s Aristotle divided the means of persuasion, also know as three artistic proofs, into three categories: Ethos Pathos Logos Wikipedia
Ethos Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal Convincing by the character of the author – we tend to believe people whom we respect Wikipedia
Ethos One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to In other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect Wikipedia
Logos Logos (Logical) Persuading by the use of reasoning This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims Wikipedia
Logos Deductive reasoning: constructs or evaluates deductive arguments Deductive arguments: show that a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises; deductive argument is valid if the conclusion does follow necessary premises Example:All men are mortal Socrates is a man Therefore, Socrates is mortal Wikipedia
Logos Inductive reasoning: is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations A form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances Example: 90% of humans are right-handed. Joe is a human. Therefore, the probability that Joe is right-handed is 90%. Wikipedia
Logos Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing Wikipedia
Pathos Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument Remember “tragic” from 8 Is Not Hate: The Meaning of a Proposition Wikipedia
Qualitative The word qualitative refers to descriptions or distinctions based on some quality or characteristic rather than on some quantity or measured value.
Quantitative The term quantitative refers to a type of information based in quantities or else quantifiable date (objective properties)