The Rhetorician Issue #6 Rowing upstream... Hang on, it'll make sense. Have you noticed that some ideas are easily sold to people, despite them being lacking in substance... but some other ideas which hold much more merit still get a lot of resistance? No? Think about you trying to convince your parents that you want to marry someone you love rather than a stranger you met a week ago. Get it now? Well, there's a good reason for that. The Three Types of Ideas You remember the concept of ethos,...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Rhetorician Issue #5 Why Rhetoric? Some of you may think you don't need persuasive abilities so long as you have the truth on your side. I thought that for quite some time too... until I knew better. Aristotle has written thoroughly on the importance of rhetoric, but this time I want to draw from my own recent experience. If you think rhetoric is not important, try explaining someone a very basic and well-known (not to them) concept, something like the halo effect. The pushback you'll...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The Rhetorician Issue #4 Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty; “Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” - John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn We talked about ethos - argument by character, pathos - argument by emotions, and logos - argument by logic. Today, I want to talk about argument by beauty. The Truth has an elegance to it, an element of beauty. So pronounced is this element, that beauty is often seen as a test of truth. Paul Dirac, one of the...
3 months ago • 2 min read