The Rhetorical Triangle featuring Captain Kirk!

2. TODAY
1)Icebreaker
2)Quick check-in
3)Rhetoric in the Age of the Triangle
4)Overview of Inquiry 1
5)Freewriting exercise
6)Reminder about forums/homework
7)*time permitting* discussion of
readings (could be carry-over)

3. ICEBREAKER
This used to be ―name the first CD you
bought with your own money,‖ but since
most people don‘t buy CDs as often
these days, it will be this:
1) Say your name
2) Tell us the first piece of music you
purchased with your own money
Phill‘s secret shame: the first CD I
bought with my own money was Please,
Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘em
Phill feels very old right now.

4. Questions?
Before we launch into class for today,
are there any pressing questions
about the syllabus, about various
class resources, etc.?
Anyone having problems accessing
anything?

5. Rhetoric:
An Introduction
We will be talking extensively about
rhetoric this semester, coming at it from
a variety of directions and with a
variety of intents. But we will start
today where the art of rhetoric often
starts, with Aristotle.

6. ARISTOTLE
This is Aristotle. History makes a strong
case that he was not actually made of
marble. He lived in Athens, Greece in 384
BC – 322 BC. He was a ―thinker‖ and a
―teacher.‖ A gentleman and a scholar!

7. Rhetoric
by Aristotle
Aristotle claimed that rhetoric was ―the
ability, in each particular case, to see the
available means of persuasion.‖ This is
sometimes also translated as ―the use‖ of
all available means of persuasion.
It isn‘t that simple, of course (what ever
is), but that‘s a fantastic starting point.
Aristotle elaborated, however, by giving us
a triangular representation of how rhetoric
works.

9. Ethos
Ethos is an appeal based on authority
or coming from authority/expertise.
For example, Stephen Hawking has
ethos to speak about physics, because
he‘s an expert and overall super-
genius type guy.
For our purposes, ethos will often be
expressed via research and the
utilization of someone with ethos.

10. Pathos
Pathos is an appeal based upon emotion.
This is often considered—depending on
the audience– either the most powerful or
the most useless of rhetorical appeals.
We don‘t see much of it in academic
discourse, but pathos abounds in the real
world.
For example, advertisers might persuade
you that you need their product so that
you can be like the people who use it,
which explains why I have so many pairs
of Air Jordans in my closet.

11. Logos
Logos is an appeal to logic. As a non-
partisan bystander, I shouldn‘t endorse
any one over the others, but Logos is my
favorite of the three. This is also the bread
and butter of most academic arguments.
Logos applies logic, in the literal sense. For
example, you shouldn‘t run into traffic, because
you might get hit by a car, and if you get hit by a
car, you will get injured and perhaps die. You
don‘t want to die, so running into traffic without
looking makes no logical sense.

12. The other triad
Aristotle includes a second
relationship: speaker (writer, author),
text, and audience.
These are also of key importance, of
course. They represent the three
things that must be considered in
each rhetorical situation. This can be
further expressed in this way:
Actor-> action->acted upon/toward

14. Popular culture…
… to the rescue.
If you like– or even just know– Star Trek,
you can use this simple reduction to
easily remember how Ethos, Pathos and
Logos work.
Think about the three main characters in
the original Star Trek (or in the new
movie). Whether or not it was intended,
they represent the three points of the
rhetorical triangle. Observe.

15. Kirk: Ethos
Kirk is the captain– meaning he‘s the
authority. He has Ethos. Always remember
that Kirk is the boss and makes the
decisions because he has the most
authority and expertise. He‘s also the best
at yelling ―KHHHHAAAAAN!‖

16. McCoy (Bones):
Pathos
The Enterprise‘s resident doctor
reminds us of Pathos with his
constant outbursts of ―Damn it, Jim,
I‘m a doctor not a …‖Hot headed
and passionate, Bones is all about
Pathos.
If you‘ve seen the new movie, you can
also remember that his nickname comes
from a moment of Pathos, as McCoy has
gone through a divorce where he was left
with ―only my bones.‖

17. Spock: Logos
And that leaves our friend Spock, the
half-Vulcan, representing Logos. Always
one to react out of logic without regard for
emotion (unless you insult his mother or
attack his bro Kirk), Spock reminds us of
his role by saying ―that is highly illogical‖
to things that are… that‘s right… highly
illogical.

20. Freewriting
To assist you in preparing for your first
project, we‘re going to participate in
what Peter Elbow calls freewriting,
slightly modified.
Here are the rules. You‘re going to go
to your Tumblr and start a new post
(or open a word document and
cut/paste post this later). I will give
you a prompt. You will type about that
prompt—without stopping for any
reason, even to correct– until I give a
new prompt.

21. REMEMBER: DO NOT STOP
WRITING.EVEN TO FIX
SPELLING OR GRAMMAR
ERRORS.
IF YOU HAVE TO TYPE “I
AM THINKING” or “NO IDEA
RIGHT NOW” THAT’S OKAY.
JUST KEEP WRITING.

22. Prompt 1: Make a list of all the
technologies you can think of
that you have written with.
Think of writing here in the
most general sense. Examples
might be cell phones,
computers, video game
systems, etc.

23. Prompt 2: Look at your list.
Pick three that seem
interesting to you. Mark them
somehow (*, #, bold them–
whatever works best for you)

24. Prompt 3: The inquiry
assignment asks for you to
consider how technologies
have made your writing and
communication better or
worse.
Make a list of writing habits
you formed based on
technolgies.

25. Prompt 4: Look over that list.
Mark each one as negative (-),
positive (+), or indifferent (=)

26. Prompt 5: Look at the two
lists. See if you can make
direct connections between
the three technologies you
marked on the first list and
several of the + or – things on
the second list.
Start grouping them,
adding notes as you wish.

27. Prompt 6: Pick one of the
groupings you just made and
start writing about it.

28. Prompt 7: I am assuming for this
prompt that you use Facebook. If you
don’t, continue your writing from
prompt 6.
If you use Facebook, think now about
how your use of Facebook influences
your style of writing and methods of
communication. Make a list of the
types of writing/communicating you
do on the site.

29. Prompt 8: You have to
contact me. What method
do you choose, and how
do you initiate
communication/address
me/etc.?

30. Prompt 9: How many of
the following make sense
to you? OMG. WTF. ROTFL.
BRB. OMW. AFK. QFT.
TL;DR. WTB. ASL.
LOLLERS8Z. L33T.
What does that tell you?

31. Prompt 10: recount the
process of writing the last
paper you wrote in high
school (or if you’ve done
one in college already).
What technologies were
involved?

32. Homework/Reminder
I have set the forums to be active, so you
can now register.
PLEASE REGISTER USING YOUR MU
EMAIL ADDRESS AS YOUR LOGIN SO I
CAN GRADE YOU.
Your homework is:
1) Post to the first forum: ―What‘s
‗cool‘?‖—what is the one piece of
technology—a device, a piece of
software,
etc.—you cannot live without and why?
2) Read ―About Facebook‖ (online)