Getting to Know the Rules of Rhetoric

            Logic and rhetoric are two different things. While logic tries to prove that something is absolutely right or absolutely wrong, rhetoric is used to provide choices from which the audience can choose and try to make them agree with your proposals. Reaching a consensus is the best way to win an argument, since it makes the audience think that what they have chosen will only benefit them and that you are just a path to their well-being. Meanwhile, only using logic in an argument can result in fighting. Fighting is one of the only rules there is in rhetoric. Although rhetoric is very flexible when it comes to rules, it has certain suggestions that can help assure a better argument, at least from your side.

                I found it interesting to see the influence that deliberative speech has in an audience. To describe this point, Heinrichs declares, "It's okay to use sermonizing, demonstrative rhetoric in a deliberative argument to get the audience on his side, but then the persuader should instantly switch to the future tense" (p. 163). If you only talk about values and guilt, then your whole proposal will seem to be based only on the problems of the present, instead of proposing solutions for the future. Also, threatening or humiliating your opponent demonstrates a lack of virtue in rhetoric by that individual. I realized that most people tend to do this in a discussion, since they think ridiculing their opponent will help them gain the audience’s support. Sometimes it does. But this technique should only be used in extremely urgent cases when the counterpart directly and explicitly attacks you. However, these types of aggressive approaches will eventually lead to a stalemate in which neither part will get their point across and will not be able to reach a consensus. Attacking the other part in such a way will only build up anger and infuriate both parts. Therefore, neither one will win the argument. On the contrary, providing the audience with a choice allows them to consider various possibilities and probably you will be able to guide them to the one you feel is more convenient. Finally, there are times when certain topics become inarguable. Debating these topics is useless, since there is no way to win the argument. Be careful with rhetoric because the fact that is has very few established rules, there are many ways in which it can backfire you is not used effectively.