Reference no: EM133284686

Assignment - English Question

Description - What does Rhetoric mean? Well it basically means being able to use language and persuasion effectively. The art of persuading whether in a debate, an essay, in trying to make your spouse finally eat healthy, movies etc. Rhetoric originated in Athens, Greece around fifth century BCE (5). The people of Athens forming a new democracy needed strategies in being able to discuss their problems in an effective manner. In Rhetoric, we also have the discourse which can be any any speech either in written format or vocalized; it can also be any exchange between people in symbols, pictures, movies, the internet, pantings, music, the list can go on. And then there is persuasion, the beauty of convincing whomever you are trying to persuade in doing something; it allows for that person or audience to be either be moved to tears, feel rage, excitement, sadness, anxious etc. These two concepts are what make up rhetoric, "about how discourses get things done in our social world" (4). And we see rhetoric being used in our world everyday. For example, the most obvious place where we see rhetoric taking place is in our politics. Politicians trying to pass laws, showing their discourse to their audience and then persuading them into action. Now going back to Athens, Aristotle later then created a classification system for rhetoric in making speech more persuasive, which we know of this system as logos- using logic in your argument, ethos- the credibility of the speaker, and lastly pathos- the emotional appeal getting your audience to feel something. Rhetoric today we use identity- how you present yourself to your audience, then we use visuals and material symbols (just like our discourse), all these concepts is what allows us to use rhetoric effectively.

Question - In what other ways do we use rhetoric in our everyday lives?

Once you are finished with writing your post, answer someone else's question by replying to him or her. Here is an example to the question another student wrote, "How can the use of rhetoric help political parties gain more people to vote for them?"

Rhetoric helps political parties by being able to persuade their audience by using their discourse and their identity. This then helps them in being to connect to their audience, persuade and in the end hopefully reach their goal and gain the audience votes.