Rhetorical Analysis Of Terror, Philosophy And The Sublime

The events of September 11 have impacted Americans in many similar ways throughout the nation. In Kearney’s writing, “Terror, Philosophy and the Sublime: Some Philosophical Reflections on 11 September”, he discusses the events that took place and he brings up a question, “how can we understand what happened on September 11?” His piece talks about the idea that the “terror” from 9/11 comes from inside and out, meaning that the thoughts AND actions of everyone involved impacted the outcome of the days and events following 9/11. Kearney wrote this in order to create commonality throughout the nation by using the reactions of Americans, and factors that influenced their reactions after 9/11, in an attempt to ease the worry and pain of Americans. Kearney is able to successfully use logical reasoning and emotional examples to deepen his article. We can analyze how he brings deeper thought and explanation to this article by exploring the rhetorical strategies he decided to uses. Throughout his piece, Kearney is able to demonstrate the use of Logos, and is able to strengthen his argument through this. Kearney does an excellent job at expressing and visualizing this use of rhetoric. He starts by using a poem called We Are One. This poem was written anonymously and posted on the outside of Ground Zero after the attack of 9/11. It read “We’ve seen the devastation We know what has been done And yet we’ve come together To STAND UP AND BE ONE. We …show more content…
Kearney talks about how Americans turned to monsters psychologically to hide their fear of the true terror. After 9/11, Americans were scared, and Kearney persuades the reader that in time of worry, that we must all come together and be one. In his piece, he successfully answers the question “how can we understand what happened on September 11?” and his use of rhetoric throughout it strengthened his piece and validated his