RHETORIC

I strongly believe everyone should be at least familiar with this concept, especially because of the extent to which it is manipulated and abused in media.
(all taken from Wikipedia)

Rhetoric is the art of using language to communicate effectively and persuasively. It involves three audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos, as well as the five canons of rhetoric: invention or discovery, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse.



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ethos: how the character and credibility of a speaker can influence an audience to consider him/her to be believable.

Today, this is still an effective means of persuading an audience; however, shrewd, critical listeners will note whether the "expert's" actual arguments are as impressive and satisfying as his or her title, to avoid the informal logical fallacy of an Appeal to Authority a.k.a. (a) Person A said this (b) Person A is an Authority figure (c) Person A is correct.

• This could be any position in which the speaker—whether an acknowledged expert on the subject, or an acquaintance of a person who experienced the matter in question—knows about the topic.
• For instance, when a magazine claims that An MIT professor predicts that the robotic era is coming in 2050, the use of big-name "MIT" (a world-renowned American university for the advanced research in math, science, and technology) establishes the "strong" credibility.

pathos: the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience's judgment.

• This can be done through metaphor, amplification, storytelling, or presenting the topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience.

logos: the use of reasoning, either inductive or deductive, to construct an argument.

• Logos appeals include appeals to statistics, math, logic, and objectivity. For instance, when advertisements claim that their product is 37% more effective than the competition, they are making a logical appeal.
• Inductive reasoning uses examples (historical, mythical, or hypothetical) to draw conclusions.
• Deductive reasoning, or "enthymematic" reasoning, uses generally accepted propositions to derive specific conclusions. The term logic evolved from logos. Aristotle emphasized enthymematic reasoning as central to the process of rhetorical invention, though later rhetorical theorists placed much less emphasis on it.

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Inventio (invention) is the systematic discovery of rhetorical practices

• topoi -- In classical rhetoric, arguments are obtained from various sources of information, or topoi. Topoi is divided into "common topoi," or hard evidence and "special topoi,"  or comcepts such as justice, virtue, good, and worthiness.  
• stasis -- the practice of posing and exploring questions relevant to clarifying the main issues in the debate. Question of Fact, Question of Definition, Question of Quality, Question of Jurisdiction

Dispositio (disposition, or arrangement) is used to determine how it should be organized for greatest effect, usually beginning with the exordium.

• the introduction, or exordium -- The term exordium comes from the Latin term meaning "to urge forward.
• the statement of the case, or narratio -- Quintilian pointed out about narratio that: "We shall for instance represent a person accused of theft as covetous, accused of adultery as lustful, accused of homicide as rash, or attribute the opposite qualities to these persons if we are defending them; further we must do the same with place, time and the like." An example of narratio: Hate speech has occurred on our campus. If hate speech occurs on our campus, it does not occur often. Hate speech seldom occurs on our campus.
• the outline of the major points in the argument, or divisio (sometimes known as partitio) -- It has two functions: names the issues in dispute and lists the arguments to be used in the order they will appear.
• the proof of the case, or confirmatio -- It confirms or validates the material given in the narratio and partitio.
• the refutation of possible opposing arguments, or confutatio -- If the rhetor anticipates that certain people in his audience may disagree his or her speech, he or she can be prepared to refute the argument that could possibly be presented in opposition to his original speech.
• the conclusion, or peroratio -- Cicero taught that a rhetor can do three things in this step: sum up his or her arguments, cast anyone who disagrees with him or her in a negative light, and arouse sympathy for himself or herself, his or her clients, or his or her case.

Elocutio (style) is the term for the mastery of stylistic elements.
The ancient authors agreed that the four ingredients necessary in order to achieve good style included correctness, clearness, appropriateness, and ornament.

• Sometimes translated as “purity”, correctness meant that rhetors should use words that were current and should adhere to the grammatical rules of whatever language they wrote. Correctness rules are standards of grammar and usage drawn from traditional grammar.
• In regard to clarity, most ancient teachers felt that clarity meant that rhetors should use words in their ordinary or everyday senses. The object of clarity was to allow meaning to “shine through”, like light through a window.
• Appropriateness probably derives from the Greek rhetorical notion to prepon, meaning to say or do whatever is fitting in a given situation. Ancient teachers taught that close attention to kairos will help to determine the appropriate style.
• The last and most important of the excellences of style is ornament, which is defined as extraordinary or unusual use of language. Ornamentation was divided into three broad categories: figures of speech, figures of thought, and tropes. Figures of speech are any artful patterning or arrangement of language. Figures of thought are artful presentations of ideas, feelings, concepts; figures of thought that depart from the ordinary patterns of argument. Tropes are any artful substitution of one term for another.

Pronuntiatio (presentation) was the discipline of delivering speeches.
Rhetoricians laid down guidelines on the use of the voice and gestures (actio) in the delivery of oratory. There were instructions on the proper modulation of the voice (volume and pitch), as well as the phrasing, pace, and emphasis of speech. Also covered were the physical aspects of oration: stance, gestures, posture, and facial expressions. There was also the concept of exercitatio (or practice exercises) that enabled speakers to both memorize their speeches and to practice their delivery.

• Delivery is based on the technology of the times. During Cicero's time, delivery was predominantly speaking. Written delivery developed because of the written language, and now delivery is both spoke and written. Technology has taken away the distinctions between written and oral delivery.

Memoria (memory) comes to play as the speaker recalls each of these elements during the speech.

• Memoria  is the discipline of recalling the arguments of a discourse. It generally received less attention from writers than other parts of rhetoric, as there is less to be said about the subject. However, the need to memorize speeches did influence the structure of discourse to some extent.
• The orator had to have at his command a wide body of knowledge to permit improvisation, to respond to questions, and to refute opposing arguments. Where today's speech-making tends to be a staged, one-way affair, in former times, much oration occurred as part of debates, dialogues, and other settings, in which orators had to react to others.

Actio (delivery) is the final step as the speech is presented in a gracious and pleasing way to the audience - the Grand Style.
Hand gestures, voice variation, speaker to audience eye contact, and an engaging manner are all needed for an effective actio.