Reading Blog 7

ARCS Ch. 7 & RT pp. 492-502

Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals
Pathos is a very effective appeal.  Using this rhetorical argument can promote a certain point that very few other appeals can do.  When Aristotle and Cicero discuss emotions, they were polar opposites of each other.  For example, anger and calm, love and hate, fear and confidence etc.  They claim that emotions should be distinguished from these types of things, like pleasure and pain.  Distinguishing values such as justice and goodness would be considered a pathetic appeal as well.  I find it interesting that many rhetors do not find this appeal very reliable.  I think this is the most effective appeal.  Most people try to make distinctions from reason and emotion, but when these two concepts are used together, it creates the most effective argument.  Advertising is the most prominent use of this appeal.  Nike was mentioned in the reading, 'Just Do It.'  Any threat of losing personal status can be perceived as a pathetic appeal.  I find it curious that ancient rhetors were such fans of this appeal.  It seems like they, of all people, would be the most for pure, hard facts than anyone else.  These rhetors treated emotions as ways of knowing.  It is interesting to see how people use pathos today and what differences are used compared to the ancient use.

Principles of Letter Writing
I love the concept of a letter.  The definition is 'a suitable arrangement of words set forth to express the intended meaning of its sender.'  When stated like that, I feel like it is a very romantic concept, although I know that this genre of letter writing is by far the least used.  But it seems to me that letters always have  a specific purpose.  There is always a true meaning behind of the carefully thought out words.  The salutation is the greeting, the first thing the reader sees, and is usually consistent with the status of the both the sender and the receiver.  Securing of goodwill is the influential ordering of words chosen by the sender.  To effectively influence the mind of the reader, the sender must convey a certain voice and word choice.  I find this concept interesting.  I didn't consider a letter a rhetorically influential piece, but it was one of the most influential for hundreds of years.  Choosing the right words and wording to express a certain opinion or persuade the reader to do something is the true art of rhetoric.