Thursday, February 27, 2020

Aristotle and Modes of Persuasion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Aristotle and Modes of Persuasion - Essay Example This essay takes an inauguration speech of USC President C.L. Max Nikias, in which he was attempting to convince his audience that it is time for some sweeping change in direction at the university in just about every facet of its operation, and analyses it using Aristotle's modes of persuasion. It was Aristotle who first identified ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos sounds like ethics and can be thought of as the ethics or character of the person speaking. â€Å"Aristotle says that if we believe that a speaker has ‘good sense, good moral character, and goodwill,’ we are inclined to believe what that speaker says to us†. Since it is almost impossible for us to know people to the same degree as they might have way back then, we tend to depend on the speaker’s credentials – their professional associations, the work that they’ve done, any awards they’ve received. Pathos sounds a little bit like passion and refers to an appeal to the audienceâ €™s emotions. What Aristotle recognized was that people are often moved more by their emotions than they are by their reason. â€Å"Appeals to the emotions and passions are a very effective rhetorical technique, and very common in our society. Many advertisements for consumer goods aim at making us insecure about our attractiveness or social acceptability, and then offer a remedy for this feeling in the form of a product†. Some of the most common emotions that are appealed to are anger, fear and pity because these emotions move people most. Logos sounds like logic and that is what is intended. Logical reasoning means making an argument based on rational thought. An example might be â€Å"if A + B = C and D + B = C then A and D are the same.† Although it might be possible to prove this statement is true mathematically, it is not always the case that logical reasoning is undeniably true. â€Å"Rhetorical arguments are often based on probabilities rather than certain truth †¦ Persuasion, to a large extent, involves convincing people to accept our assumptions as probably true. Similarly, exposing questionable assumptions in someone else’s argument is an effective means for preparing the audience to accept your own contrary position† (Edlund, 2003). While these three elements of a persuasive argument can be pulled out and discussed individually, in reality, they tend to function together. Within his speech to the students, Dr. Nikias combines all of these elements together in his attempt to convince his audience that he is about to lead this

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

An Accident that Has Changed the Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

An Accident that Has Changed the Life - Essay Example My friend was walking ahead of me at a slower pace waiting for me to join him. Suddenly I heard screeching off breaks from a car and as I looked ahead, all I could see was my friend lying on the ground covered in a pool of blood. For once, I thought that I was in a dream but as I gained myself, I realized it was a reality and had to do something to save my friend. I rushed to him, called for an ambulance since the car that had hit him had swayed off the road and could not help him. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan offered to drive us to the nearest hospital. All through the journey, my friend did not move or make any sound and I was in complete denial that he could be dead. However, when we reached the hospital, the doctors rushed him to the emergency room and a few minutes later, he was pronounced dead. After the death of my friend, I was affected a lot and my parents had to schedule an appointment for some counseling sessions for me and after some time, I had to accept the fact that m y friend was gone but this whole incidence changed my life and from that point I changed a lot of views on very many things. After the incidence, I developed a phobia for roads and would never walk close to any major highways and roads. I would do everything to avoid walking in any road that had motorists and only felt safe in footpaths and streets that had no motorists. I came to understand that an accident can happen at any time on the road and that one has to be very careful especially when crossing major roads. Before this accident, I used to cross major highways at zebra crossing points but later on, I realized that the safest way to cross a road was by the use of flyovers. I, therefore, would opt to follow the long ways than to follow a shortcut that had speeding cars. In addition, when forced to cross the road, I have developed a habit of waiting for all the cars to pass and cross only when I cannot spot a car in any direction however far it may seem to be. Before the acciden t, I did not know much about road signs. By then I did not have a driving license and for that reason, I never noticed the importance of road signs. I later noticed that road signs are very important especially to drivers. The driver who hit my friend was at a higher speed in a place that had a road sign indicating that there were children crossing. The driver ignored this sign and for this reason, my friend lost his life. I, therefore, vowed that to become a driver, I had to ensure that I know all the road signs and be able to apply them in an everyday situation. I, therefore, believe that this accident influenced me a lot in terms of driving. I, therefore, believe that in the future I will be a good driver and would ensure that I obey all the road signs. This incident also influenced my society a lot. Before the accident, this spot was found of over speeding cars and as a result, many people had been killed at this same point. It was because of this incident that people said it wa s enough and there was demonstration all over the area. People wanted a final solution to this problem. They pressed for action to be taken to ensure that cars would be slower at this point. Because of this, several road signs were put in this place to indicate that there were schoolchildren crossing. In addition to that, several bumps were placed in this location to ensure that motorist would be slower at this point. The bumps, therefore, helped reduce many accident cases at this location. In addition, a zebra crossing was put in this place and helped many people in crossing this busy road. It was, therefore, a relief for most people in the community. To my friends mum, the whole incidence was a total transformation for her.