Jay Heinrichs 'Rhetorical Argument From Strength'

Section One, Intro/Offense: Jay Heinrichs points out how rhetoric is an incredibly useful skill that dates all the way back to being started by the ancient Greeks and perfected by the Romans. As time progressed in about the 19th century rhetoric increasingly became less popular and has not been a large part of education. Heinrichs would like to show to people just how important rhetoric truly is. Rhetorical arguments are all around us, as the author notices the company that makes his wrist watch uses a form of marketing called “argument from strength”, simply meaning if something works in the rough it will work in the smooth. Heinrichs leads into a vey important part of a rhetorical argument, persuasion. Persuading is the act of convincing …show more content…
There are three questions to be asked to determine weather a statement is a logical fallacy; Does the proof hold up?, Are the right number of choices given?, and finally , does the proof lead to the right choices?. Using these questions will often protect you from the “beautiful variety of ways that people cheat, lie, and steal.”. The first “sin” is the false comparison. This is when you compare something positive, to something negative, making the negative thing looked at better. Another kind of false comparison is the appeal to popularity, when assuming something is far more popular than it is, you make a false comparison. False analogy is also a form of false comparison. False analogy is doing one thing well, so you then think you can do something completely unrelated just as well. The second “sin” is the awful example. This is when people generally from little to no evidence. The third logical “sin” is ignorance as proof, this is when you misinterpret the data in your favor, or as Rumsfeld says “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”. Similarly, reaching a vast conclusion with less than stellar data is known as hasty generalization. The fourth is tautology or just repeating an idea or premise. The fifth is the allusion of choice, or false choice. The sixth logical sin is called red herring. This tactic involves brining up something completely unrelated distracting the audience. Finally there is the wrong ending. Wrong ending is when you get a completely false conclusion from the given evidence. Aristotle definition of virtue is, a state of character, conceded with choice, lying in the mean. When using ethos in rhetoric the speaker needs to realize what the audience needs. For example a sales man selling a pool table would realize that a wife is buying something to make her husband happy, the salesman can then play into her need and