​

Issue #13

Rhetoric: The Big Picture

​

Dear Reader,

Picture, if you will, a persuasive argument as a magnificent gothic cathedral.

Rhetoric, then, is the art of constructing that cathedral.

Like any beautiful building, rhetoric has three essential layers:

The Building Blocks

Just like a building requires building blocks: stone, wood, steel to hold it all together... a persuasive argument too has its building blocks:

• Ethos: the speaker's credibility - How qualified they are, and whether they genuinely care about their audience's welfare.
• Logos: the logic of the argument - how much logical sense it makes
• Pathos: the emotional appeal - does it appeal to the fundamental human emotions that drive people to act?

Without high quality building blocks, you can neither create a grand building, nor a persuasive argument.

The Architecture

​

How you arrange these materials for maximum impact. The design of your building - the great hall, the soaring nave, the intimate chapels. Just as an architect designs spaces, you must design your argument. Cicero's five-part structure offers a fine starting template, but it's hardly a cure-all. You must craft your arguments with careful attention to your audience's beliefs and temperament.

The Ornamentation

The finishing touches: paint, frescoes, stained glass, the play of light and shadow. In rhetoric, these are your figures of speech - what makes your argument memorable, quotable, and genuinely appealing.

This is the high-level, big picture of rhetoric as an art. Now any rhetorical technique or concept you learn here or elsewhere, you should be able to tie in to this big picture and make sense of it.

There's one more thing, though - something rather more fundamental than all of this. Just as every great cathedral rests upon foundations that remain largely unseen yet prove absolutely vital, every persuasive argument rests upon fluency in language itself. Without the ability to transform your thoughts swiftly into clear, articulate expression, even the finest materials, the most elegant design, and the most exquisite ornamentation will come to naught.

This is the hidden foundation that makes everything else possible.

Until next time, The Rhetorician

​