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Enthymemes

Page history last edited by Todd Breijak 9 years, 6 months ago

 

introducing enthymemes

 

Rhetorical Toolbox II

 

 

 

The effect of speech upon the condition of the soul is comparable to the power of drugs over the nature of bodies. For just as different drugs dispel different secretions form the body, and some bring an end to disease and others to life, so also in the case of speeches, some distress, others delight, some cause fear, others make the hearers bold, and some drug and bewitch the soul with a kind of evil persuasion. (Encomium)


 

What's in the Toolbox?

 

 

 

  • The Enthymeme (claim, stated reason(s), unstated assumption(s), grounds)
  • Stasis questions: definition, evaluation, resemblance, cause/consequence, proposal

 

On Tap Today?

  • Counter-argument and Counter-Example
  • The "Framer's" Card and other arguments from authority

     

  • Prediction Tropes (cause/consequence, evaluation, proposal)
  • eutripismus (divided and conquer)

 


 

The Rhetorical Toolbox: Breaking Down the Basic Building Blocks for Arguments

 

 

The Enthymeme - a lighter, faster, and less formal version of the Syllogism 

 

Components of the Enthymeme: (A) claim, (B) the stated or explicit reason, (C) the unstated assumption, and, when necessary, (D) grounds for these assumptions. This last component is important to keep in mind as it is often the most vulnerable part of an enthymeme and the one most often attacked by opponents.

 

There are a surprising number of arguments made using enthymemes either wholly or in part. You might be surprised to also learn that certain scenes and their genres employ enthymemes frequently and in very predictable ways. Below are a few specific public scenes that often feature enthymemes. 

 

An Enthymeme example that follows a fairly strict genre convention:

Scene: Public --> Local Food, Entertainment, and Businesses

Genre: Product and Restaurant Reviews

 

   

Jael H. on Yelp uses enthymemes to persuade you to eat at her favorite restaurants. 

 

Claim: Green Dot Stables is a good restaurant, and you should eat there. 

Stated Reason: I ate dinner at Green Dot Stables on 9/9/2014. “The food [at Green Dot Stables] is delicious, the drink selection & price is spot on, the service is genuine.”

Unstated Assumption: My experience at GDS is indicative of the typical service you will receive at this restaurant.

Grounds: I have reviewed many restaurants (see her profile) which validates my opinion in this matter.  

 

An argument that uses the enthymeme structure as an inventional device for generating multiple reasons :

Scene: Public --> Detroit Current Affairs

Genre: Op/Ed Pieces in the News

 

Sale of art would be 'devastating' DIA Official Says

 

From the Article: A liquidation of the treasured Detroit Institute of Arts collection would be a "devastating blow" to the museum's reputation, donor base and future funding. 

 

Claim: Selling the DIA's art would be devastating. 

Stated Reason: The loss of the art would hurt the the museum's reputation, donor base, and future funding

Unstated Assumptions: The museum's funding comes from, in large part, wealthy donors who support the museum due to its reputation as a 1st class art museum. If this were compomised, the museum itself would likely face extreme hardship. 

Grounds: The DIA is an internationally celebrated Art museum and a cultural foundation of Detroit and is therefore worth our attention. 

 

An famous enthymeme designed to preclude alternative arguments:

 

The glove doesn't fit, so you must acquit

  • Claim: the defendant should be acquitted
  • Stated reason: because the glove does not fit
  • Unstated assumption: because the glove was used by the murderer and therefore must fit on the murderer's hand
  • Grounds: proof that the glove was used in the commission of the crime, proof that the glove does not fit, that the glove has not changed size and shape, that the hand of the defendant has not changed size or shape...

 

 

Practicing Enthymemes:

Scene: Public --> Socio-political news

Genre: (Reportage) Newspaper Article

 

Women should be allowed to join combat units because the image of women in combat would help eliminate gender stereotypes.

 

Claim: women should be allowed to join combat units

Stated reason: because the image of women in combat would help eliminate gender stereotypes

Unstated assumption(?):

Grounds(?):

 

 

In Groups: Build your own enthymeme (5-10 minutes)

 

Statement:

Claim:

Stated Reasons/Premises:

Unstated Reasons/Premises:


 

Enthymemes are often used in conjunction with other Rhetorical Tools (Stases, Artistic Appeals, etc.) in order to construct a widely persuasive argument aimed at multiple audiences in a larger public scene, as seen in our assigned readings for today. 

 

Drugs

 

 

Gore Vidal

 

Thesis: "It is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost."

 

Enthymeme/Stasis time:

 

Claim: Narcotics should be decriminalized (what kind of stasis is this?)

 

In the "thesis" version above, what kind of stasis is used?

Strategies: Cause/Consequence, Resemblance, artistic appeals

 

Ethos: For the record, I have tried - once - almost every drug and liked none, disproving the popular Fu Manchu theory that a single whiff of opium will enslave the mind. Nevertheless many drugs are bad for certain people to take and they should be told why in a sensible way.

 

 

This piece of information helps to create his identity and creditability among the readers, which will in turn effect how persuasive the message is perceived to be.

 

Personal experience isn't the best field test and isn't strong enough evidence; it's only one person and if decriminalization were to be passed it would affect MILLIONS of people.

 

 

 

Argument from Authority: Along with exhortation and warning, it might be good for our citizens to recall (or learn for the first time) that the United States was the creation of men who believed that each man has the right to do what he wants with his own life as long as he does not interfere with his neighbor's pursuit of happiness (that his neighbor's idea of happiness is persecuting others does confuse matters a bit).

 

Cause/ConsequenceOne enthymeme used by Vidal is when he suggests that “Both the Bureau of Narcotics and the Mafia want strong laws against the sale and use of drugs because if drugs are sold at cost there would be no money in it for anyone.” Here, the unstated assumption is that illegal drugs serve as a significant business purpose for both sides. … Next, the resemblance question is used when drug addicts are compared to alcoholics. Vidal also refers to the American people’s devotion to punishment and sin as well as their dedication to earning money. Also, the cause/consequence is made evident when the author states “if everyone is allowed to take drugs everyone will and the GNP will decrease, the Commies will stop us from making everyone free, and we shall end up a race of Zombies, passively murmuring "groovie" to one another.” Consequently, Vidal’s experience with drugs along with his reference to the Bill of Rights satisfies ethos and logos, thus making his argument very forceful.

 

Categorical Argument/Counter-Argument:

I agree with Gore, when he claims that the combination of sin and money is irresistible and that people will always be striving to get drugs even if they are illegal. However, I disagree with him when he states that legalizing drugs will help the situation. When people are under the influence of any drug, they have the tendency to not think thoroughly of the situation, even if they believe they can: which may further not only hurt themselves but possibly the people around them. For instance, if someone was to drink some alcohol, that may not seem like a lot to them, and then take the responsibility of driving a car. They may feel “okay” but the “little that they did have to drink” puts themselves and other people in danger and to me Theodore had a better understanding of this.

 

Is everyone reasonably sane? No. Some people will always become drug addicts just as some people will always become alcoholics, and it is just too bad. Every man, however, has the power (and should have the legal right) to kill himself if he chooses. But since most men don't, they won't be mainliners either. Nevertheless, forbidding people things they like or think they might enjoy only makes them want those things all the more. This psychological insight is, for some mysterious reason, perennially denied our governors.

 

Ominatio: Will anything sensible be done? Of course not. The American people are as devoted to the idea of sin and its punishment as they are to making money - and fighting drugs is nearly as big a business as pushing them. Since the combination of sin and money is irresistible (particularly to the professional politician), the situation will only grow worse.

 


Don't Legalize Drugs

 

 http://www.frontpagemag.com/Media/Homepage/dalrymple.gif

 

by Theodore Dalrymple

 

Thesis: Drugs should not be legalized because...

Strategy: counter-argument & counter-example, definition, evaluation, anti-proposal, cataplexis, slippery slope

 

Delayed Thesis: There is a progression in the minds of men: first the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and then it becomes an orthodoxy whose truth seems so obvious that no one remembers that anyone ever thought differently. This is just what is happening with the idea of legalizing drugs: it has reached the stage when with the idea of legalizing drugs: it has reached the stage when millions of thinking men are agreed that allowing people to take whatever they like is the obvious, indeed only, solution to the social problems that arise from the consumption of drugs.

 

Theodore made sure to inform the reader of both sides of the argument before he declared which side he agreed with. He stated a couple of reasons behind why some people think that it’s a good idea to legalize the use of drugs and quotes several authors that contribute to the authenticity of his views. Theodore also reaches out to the reader by sharing some of his personal experiences, of how he’s “met large numbers of drug dealers in prison”, and that he, “doubt(s) that they would return to respectable life if the principal article of their commerce were to be legalized.”

 

EutripismusThe arguments in favor of legalizing the use of all narcotic and stimulant drugs are twofold: philosophical and pragmatic. Neither argument is negligible, but both are mistaken, I believe, and both miss the point.

 

 

Resemblance: Dalrymple compares the obsession with narcotics to necrophilia. In this claim, he states that although both don’t affect the public, the truth of the matter is that it is based on the wrongness of the situation itself. In this, it is an ethical problem. Another example of the resemblance stasis is when Dalrymple explained his experience with the British on an aid project to Africa. He compared narcotics to the British alcohol situation. I thought that he used this example well, because it proved his claim that by providing these drugs for a cheaper price and without proper restraints, it just causes consumption to increase.

 

Slippery Slope: Both articles included their opposition’s main thoughts or theme, with both authors counter-attacking the opposition’s view with the author’s opinion that they were trying to point out. However, Theodore Dalrymple’s view really impacted me more, not because I’m not a drug consumer, but rather because he pointed out an overall view that caught my attention: “Therefore, since even legalizers would hesitate to allow children to take drugs, decriminalization might easily result in dealers turning their attentions to younger and younger children, who – in the permissive atmosphere that even now prevails – have already been inducted into the drug subculture in alarmingly high numbers.” This statements I can definitely understand since children are known to be the future of generations and the future of businesses, and it is true that children are being younger and younger when it comes to knowing the age as of when a child or adult started smoking.

 

 


 

Fun with Fallacies: The Colbert Report

 

 

8/11/2007, 14:50

 

Resemblance: We should treat marijuana like alchohol

Evaluation: We lead the world in locking up our population; half of all the arrests in this country are from marijuana

Cause/Consequence: The only thing keeping me from getting high right now is that it's against the law

 

Epiplexis (the evil twin of the rhetorical question)

  • Are you too hopped up on the screamers to sit down right now?
  • Do I live in a commune and have a love baby?
  • What do you want to decriminalize? The glint?

 

Guilty By Association (the evil twin of the resemblance stasis)

  • You sound like a communist
  • Why don't you go to Europe?
  • You're Al Capone's best friend
  • You get your money from George Soros…you’re socialist my friend

 

Black-or-White Fallacy (the evil twin of cause-consequence stases)

  • We have lost the war on drugs when we withdraw from the war on drugs
  • Are you soft on crime? ...Ipso facto, or whatever Latin phrase you want to use, you are soft on crime
  • You’re a socialist, yes or no?

 

 

 

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