The Art of Rhetoric · Part 4 · The three means of persuasion · B2–C1
Logos: The Argument
Part 4 of The Art of Rhetoric: the third means of persuasion is the argument itself. Aristotle gave the speaker two tools, the enthymeme and the example. Linking reasons (because, because of, since, as, so, therefore, given that, which is why), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight, the third means of persuasion, and for Aristotle the most important: logos, the argument itself.
We did arguments all last term. Syllogisms. Major premise, minor premise, conclusion.
In logic we built them complete. In a speech, nobody has time. So the speaker leaves a step out, and the audience fills it in.
Only if the missing step is false. Tonight we learn to find it.
Aristotle called the argument “the body” of persuasion. In logic, he said, we prove things by syllogism and by induction. In rhetoric, the same two tools appear in a lighter form. The enthymeme is a syllogism for a crowd: it often leaves out a premise that the audience already believes. “He must be ill: he has a fever” does not say “everyone with a fever is ill”, because nobody needs to hear it.
The example is induction for a crowd: one or two cases instead of a long list. Aristotle’s own: we must not let the Persian king take Egypt, because Darius took Egypt before he crossed into Greece, and so did Xerxes. Examples can be real, from history, or invented: comparisons, and fables like Aesop’s.
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