RECLAIMING RHETORICIntro to Rhetoric
 

RECLAIMING RHETORIC

Intro to Rhetoric

A practical introduction through classical tools. See the argument in front of you, name the judgment it asks for, and tell a fair structure from a pile of sentences.

An open notebook, a magnifying glass, and a small lamp on a desk.
Read something closely, then say what it is doing. That is the habit the pages below practice.

Six parts. About 46 minutes. Lessons stay open. A part is recorded when its checks are in place. Progress stays on this device.

Begin

Three jobs

A message is usually doing one of these

The names can wait. For now, notice which one you are looking at.

  • Looking backThe checkout broke at 2:11.Tells you what already happened.
  • What to do nextMove the launch to Friday.Asks for a decision.
  • What we admireA careful team tells the truth when it costs something.Holds up a value.

The bridge

How an argument holds

Tap each span. A speech often weakens where one of them is missing, or left for the audience to supply. Not every genre states all five out loud.

You will be able to

  • Tell what judgment a piece asks for, and use time only as a clue.
  • Separate ethos, pathos, and logos without treating emotion as the opposite of a reason.
  • Walk a short case from the point at issue through a fair objection.

Lessons

  1. 01What rhetoric is6 minPersuasion as a faculty of noticing, and the question a case actually turns on.
  2. 02Three species7 minForensic, deliberative, and epideictic speech, sorted by the judgment the audience is asked to make.
  3. 03Ethos, pathos, logos7 minThree materials of judgment, including the premise a speaker leaves unsaid.
  4. 04Five canons6 minInvention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery as a sequence of work.
  5. 05Arrangement8 minSix classical moves, then a short case to put back in order.
  6. 06Practice12 minThree short cases. Species, appeal, and the move each sentence is making.
About this module

A teaching module for Reclaiming Rhetoric. You sort live cases, put a speech back in order, and write three moves of your own. The point is to see the argument, not to collect definitions.

Six parts, about 46 minutes. Lessons stay open. A part is recorded when its checks are in place. Progress stays in this browser.

Terms follow Aristotle's Rhetoric for the definition, the three species, and the appeals, and the Roman teaching tradition for stasis, the five canons, and arrangement. The cases are invented for practice.