This chapter had a lot of good information. The main point I grasped from it was the tools used to shape a rhetorical argument. I happen to really like the idea of induction and deduction.
The example used in the textbook is:
All people are mortal.
Socrates is a person.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
At first, this sounded like a very silly and obvious example, but then I realized the tools were being used on a small matter and could be used on larger matters as well.
When giving a rhetorical argument, you need to assume your audience has premises. Premises being their preconceived beliefs already in place. In your argument, you can build off the premises of your audience. I think is is going to be very helpful when we give our speeches in class.
I think of it as putting the pieces together for your audience so that they may be convinced by using my argument and building off of their own beliefs.
This idea may sound like common sense, but I had never really thought of it that way. It just makes me want to address premises in each of my speeches from here on out so that they may be stronger and better constructed.
Yeah premises are an interesting subject because one might be correct and another might be wrong. You could say all animals with wings fly, a dodo bird has wings, therefore it can fly. This is a false statement because the dodo bird is pretty much the red headed retard stepchild of evolution and cannot fly...sucks for him.
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