How to use rhetoric to get what you want - Camille A. Langston
-
0:07 - 0:11How do you get what you want
using just your words? -
0:11 - 0:16Aristotle set out to answer exactly
that question over 2,000 years ago -
0:16 - 0:18with the Treatise on Rhetoric.
-
0:18 - 0:20Rhetoric, according to Aristotle,
-
0:20 - 0:24is the art of seeing the available
means of persuasion. -
0:24 - 0:27And today we apply it to
any form of communication. -
0:27 - 0:30Aristotle focused on oration, though,
-
0:30 - 0:34and he described three types
of persuasive speech. -
0:34 - 0:36Forensic, or judicial, rhetoric
-
0:36 - 0:39establishes facts
and judgements about the past, -
0:39 - 0:41similar to detectives at a crime scene.
-
0:41 - 0:44Epideictic, or demonstrative, rhetoric
-
0:44 - 0:46makes a proclamation
about the present situation, -
0:46 - 0:48as in wedding speeches.
-
0:48 - 0:52But the way to accomplish change
is through deliberative rhetoric, -
0:52 - 0:54or symbouleutikon.
-
0:54 - 0:56Rather than the past or the present,
-
0:56 - 0:59deliberative rhetoric
focuses on the future. -
0:59 - 1:01It's the rhetoric of politicians
-
1:01 - 1:05debating a new law by imagining
what effect it might have, -
1:05 - 1:08like when Ronald Regan warned
that the introduction of Medicare -
1:08 - 1:11would lead to a socialist future
spent telling our children -
1:11 - 1:16and our children's children what it once
was like in America when men were free. -
1:16 - 1:19But it's also the rhetoric of activists
urging change, -
1:19 - 1:22such as Martin Luther King Jr's dream
-
1:22 - 1:24that his children will one day live
in a nation -
1:24 - 1:27where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin, -
1:27 - 1:29but by the content of their character.
-
1:29 - 1:33In both cases, the speaker's present
their audience with a possible future -
1:33 - 1:37and try to enlist their help
in avoiding or achieving it. -
1:37 - 1:39But what makes
for good deliberative rhetoric, -
1:39 - 1:41besides the future tense?
-
1:41 - 1:45According to Aristotle, there are three
persuasive appeals: -
1:45 - 1:46ethos,
-
1:46 - 1:47logos,
-
1:47 - 1:48and pathos.
-
1:48 - 1:52Ethos is how you convince an audience
of your credibility. -
1:52 - 1:57Winston Churchill began his 1941 address
to the U.S. Congress by declaring, -
1:57 - 2:01"I have been in full harmony all my life
with the tides which have flowed -
2:01 - 2:06on both sides of the Atlantic
against privilege and monopoly," -
2:06 - 2:10thus highlighting his virtue
as someone committed to democracy. -
2:10 - 2:13Much earlier, in his defense
of the poet Archias, -
2:13 - 2:16Roman consul Cicero appealed to
his own practical wisdom -
2:16 - 2:19and expertise as a politician:
-
2:19 - 2:22"Drawn from my study
of the liberal sciences -
2:22 - 2:24and from that careful training
to which I admit -
2:24 - 2:27that at no part of my life I have ever
been disinclined." -
2:27 - 2:31And finally, you can demonstrate
disinterest, -
2:31 - 2:34or that you're not motivated
by personal gain. -
2:34 - 2:37Logos is the use of logic and reason.
-
2:37 - 2:41This method can employ rhetorical devices
such as analogies, -
2:41 - 2:42examples,
-
2:42 - 2:45and citations of research or statistics.
-
2:45 - 2:48But it's not just facts and figures.
-
2:48 - 2:51It's also the structure and content
of the speech itself. -
2:51 - 2:55The point is to use factual knowledge
to convince the audience, -
2:55 - 2:59as in Sojourner Truth's argument
for women's rights: -
2:59 - 3:03"I have as much muscle as any man
and can do as much work as any man. -
3:03 - 3:07I have plowed and reaped and husked
and chopped and mowed -
3:07 - 3:10and can any man do more than that?"
-
3:10 - 3:14Unfortunately, speakers can also
manipulate people with false information -
3:14 - 3:17that the audience thinks is true,
-
3:17 - 3:20such as the debunked but still widely
believed claim -
3:20 - 3:22that vaccines cause autism.
-
3:22 - 3:26And finally, pathos appeals to emotion,
-
3:26 - 3:30and in our age of mass media,
it's often the most effective mode. -
3:30 - 3:32Pathos is neither inherently good nor bad,
-
3:32 - 3:35but it may be irrational
and unpredictable. -
3:35 - 3:38It can just as easily rally
people for peace -
3:38 - 3:40as incite them to war.
-
3:40 - 3:42Most advertising,
-
3:42 - 3:46from beauty products that promise
to relieve our physical insecurities -
3:46 - 3:48to cars that make us feel powerful,
-
3:48 - 3:50relies on pathos.
-
3:50 - 3:55Aristotle's rhetorical appeals
still remain powerful tools today, -
3:55 - 3:57but deciding which of them to use
-
3:57 - 3:59is a matter of knowing
your audience and purpose, -
3:59 - 4:02as well as the right place and time.
-
4:02 - 4:04And perhaps just as important is being
able to notice -
4:04 - 4:08when these same methods of persuasion
are being used on you.
- Title:
- How to use rhetoric to get what you want - Camille A. Langston
- Speaker:
- Camille Langston
- Description:
-
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-use-rhetoric-to-get-what-you-want-camille-a-langston
How do you get what you want, using just your words? Aristotle set out to answer exactly that question over two thousand years ago with a treatise on rhetoric. Camille A. Langston describes the fundamentals of deliberative rhetoric and shares some tips for appealing to an audience’s ethos, logos, and pathos in your next speech.
Lesson by Camille A. Langston, animation by TOGETHER.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 04:30
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