This document provides an overview of rhetorical theory, including definitions of key concepts from Aristotle and Cicero. It discusses rhetoric as the art of persuasion through discourse. The three modes of persuasion are ethos, pathos, and logos. It also outlines Cicero's five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Invention involves discovering arguments, arrangement is organizing them logically, and style is expressing ideas artfully. Memory is retaining information and delivery is presenting a message effectively through oral or written communication. The document provides definitions and explanations of these fundamental concepts in rhetorical theory.

1. THE ELEMENTS OF
ARGUMENT
Aristotelian & Ciceronian Rhetorical Models

2. WHAT IS RHETORIC?
According to Aristotle, rhetoric is “the faculty of knowing in any
given case the available means of persuasion.”
 Rhetoric is an art of discourse and the counterpart to dialectic.
 How something is said conveys as much as what is said:
• The how = rhetorical form, strategy, device (rhetoric)
• The what = content, topic and position (dialectic)
 The primary focus of rhetoric is effective transmission of a message
to an intended audience in order to move them to act or change.

3. RHETORIC: BREAK IT DOWN
“…the faculty of knowing in any given case the available means of
persuasion.”
 What does this statement mean? Define its terms.
• A faculty:
• To know:
• A given case:
• Available means:
• Persuasion:

4. ARGUMENTATION
 A mode of dialogue or discourse
 A challenge of opposing viewpoints
 A formal debate or trial
 An examination of a claim’s proofs
 A critical investigation of a position
 An analytical refutation
 A method of intellectual discovery
 A means for solving a problem

5. COMMUNICATION
 Three primary parts of communication:
• Sender (encoding/outgoing)
• Receiver (decoding/incoming)
• Message (the code/information)
 Success of transmission depends on the sender’s ability to translate
his or her ideas into a message the receiver can understand/interpret.
 How a sender transforms ideas into a communicable message is
part of rhetorical theory: it is the how, not the what.

6. EXIGENCE
“Any exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it
is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a
thing which is other than it should be.”
“In any rhetorical situation there will be at least one
controlling exigence which functions as the organizing
principle: it specifies the audience to be addressed and
the change to be effected.”
from Lloyd F. Bitzer’s “The Rhetorical Situation”

7. EXIGENCY: THE WHY
 If there is no urgent matter and no
problem, there is no reason to make an
argument.
 Exigency answers:
• So what?
• Who cares?
• What’s at stake?
• What are the consequences?
• Motivating factors for change
or action?

8. RHETORICAL SITUATION
 This is what surrounds the
argument, motivates the rhetor,
and the external elements of the
argument itself:
• Background context
• Problem
• Exigency
• Author
• Audience
• Argument
Rhetorical
Situation
Audience Argument
Author

9. ARISTOTLE’S
RHETORICAL TRIANGLE
Pathos Logos
Ethos

10. ARISTOTLE’S APPEALS
Persuasion occurs through three kinds of proofs
(pistis) or persuasive appeals:
• ETHOS: The persuasive appeal of one's character.
• PATHOS: The appeal to emotion.
• LOGOS: The appeal to reason.
Rhetorical
Appeals
Pathos:
Emotion
Logos:
Reason
Ethos:
Authority/Credibility
Aristotle calls these artistic or intrinsic proofs—
those that could be found by means of the art of
rhetoric—in contrast to "nonartistic" or "extrinsic"
proofs, e.g. witnesses or contracts that are simply
used by the speaker (non-rhetorical). from Aristotle’s Ars Rhetorica. 1.2.2-3
Adapted from BYUs

11. PERSUASIVE APPEALS
Ethos • the appeal of character or authority
This concerns the ways in which an author establishes
credibility or believability for the audience.
A strong rhetorician inspires confidence in his or her word
through the use of:
• credible sources
• respectful acknowledgement of the opposition
• fair and logical refutations
• the orderly, clear, invested delivery of the case
Ethos must be demonstrated first for logos to work.
Adapted from BYUs

12. PERSUASIVE APPEALS
Logos • the appeal to reason
 Aristotle holds that this is the most important of the appeals for its
privileging of empirical evidence, facts, and the pursuit of TRUTH.
 Translates as: word, reason, argument, oration, language, logic
 Outside of academy and the sciences, logos is rarely the most
dominant appeal used in rhetoric. Even more rarely is it the grounds
upon which personal, professional, and political decisions are made.
Adapted from BYUs

13. PERSUASIVE APPEALS
Pathos • the appeal to emotion & values
Emotion derives from the Latin emovere, meaning to "move out, agitate."
Hence, to move someone is to stir up feelings within them.
Aristotle claims that this is the least important of the three appeals
where truth value is concerned. It is, conversely, the most effective on
popular audiences, something he laments.
Pathos in scholarship is best reserved for the conclusion—closing
arguments—and only sparingly if at all elsewhere in rhetorical address.
Adapted from BYUs

14.  Invention
 Arrangement
 Style
 Memory
 Delivery
CICERO’S FIVE CANONS

15. INVENTIO
 Invention is the process of dis|covering—the search for something
worthwhile and meaningful to say, from the Latin invenire, "to find."
 Logos driven—what the author’s message is, getting to the thesis.
 Invention describes the argumentative, persuasive core of rhetoric.
Aristotle, in fact, defines rhetoric primarily as invention, "discovering the best
available means of persuasion."
 Topics of Invention, from the Greek topoi (places for discovery):
Definition Division/Classification Comparison
Relationship Circumstance Testimony
Adapted from BYUs

16. Arrangement deals with ordering ideas—
the organization of information/proofs.
 The exordium or introduction is where
credibility—ethos—is established for both
the argument and the author.
 The body of the discourse develops
around logic, evidence, and analysis—logos.
 The conclusion provides the most moving
and memorable presentation of the
argument—pathos. Here the author focuses
on connecting to the audience.
Introduction Ethos
Statement of
Facts
Logos
Division
Proof
Refutation
Conclusion Pathos
DISPOSITIO
Adapted from BYUs

17. ELOCUTIO
Style embodies the artful, tasteful, and
distinctive verbal expressions of ideas.
 Rhetoric has often been reduced to mere ornamentation ; however,
ornament was not superficial in classical and renaissance rhetoric.
 To ornament (ornare : to equip, fit out, or supply) means dressing
thought and feeling in verbal expression to adequately or appropriately
reflect the experience.
• An explicit, outward appearance of inward sense of meaning or value
• Analogous to “dressing (ideas) for the occasion”
Adapted from BYUs

18.  Style deals with the way information is conveyed, especially through the use
of figurative language, diction, and rhetorical devices:
Antithesis Rhetorical Question Metonymy Metaphor
Hyperbole Understatement Frankness Conciseness
 The virtues of style deal in grammar, effective and affective appeals, the
decorum, and the importance of ornamenting language
 Three Styles:
• Grand: ornate arrangement of impressive words and inflated langauge
• Middle: relaxed but not colloquial, often meanders without getting to the point
• Simple: idiomatic, meager, terse but fails to provide clear purpose or point
ELOCUTIO
Adapted from BYUs

19.  Memory is the "treasury of things invented“ (Ad Herennium).
• Research, exposure, and experience are the foundations of memory—
the storing up of useful tools, materials, and knowledge.
 Historically, memory pertained to oration, rather than to written text.
 In contemporary rhetoric, memory has two distinct parts:
• The author’s working store of information (related to invention)
• How well an audience learns target information (receives/retains message)
 Certain rhetorical devices help crystallize a message into audience memory
Imagery(ecphrasis) Repetition Mnemonics Enumeration
For example: MLK Jr.’s use of anaphora: “I have a dream…”
MEMORIA
Adapted from BYUs

20.  Delivery deals with the non-verbal communication of how something is
said (implicit, demonstrative), rather than with what is said (content or style):
• From the Greek word for "acting," i.e. vocal training and use of gestures
 Delivery originally referred to oration, but more broadly pertains to the
author’s presentation—an authenticity in both message and intention:
Authorial Voice Tone Visual Elements Format
 Modern rhetorical delivery embodies appropriateness (code shifting) and
McLuhan's notion of matching form-to-function
• A sincerity & confidence implied by the author’s voice, method, and message
PRONUNTATIO
Adapted from BYUs