ARGUMENTATION THEORY

Question 1

I.1. Preliminary considerations:

Answer 1

formal arguments differ from assertions based on likes and dislikes or personal
opinion; unlike questions of personal taste, arguments rest on evidence, whether in
the form of facts, examples, the testimony of experts, or statistics, that can be brought
forward to prove or disprove objectively the thesis in question;

almost anyone belongs to an organization of some kind: a church, labor union, club,
or other social, educational, community, business or professional association; almost
anyone, therefore, is called upon at some time or other to make some sort of talk: it
may be to discuss organizational policy, to nominate another member for an office, to
submit the report of a committee, or to introduce a speaker;

speakers who can influence their audiences as they intend usually become recognized
leaders

speech is an agency for both personal advancement and social control, men are
proved by their speeches whether they be wise or foolish;

Argumentation vs Persuasion: argumentation is the practice of giving reasons to convince or persuade
an audience to accept a claim or proposition; it is a form of advocacy and a process of reasoning designed to support a claim. Whereas argumentation presents reasons and evidence to gain an audience`s intellectual agreement with the validity of a
proposition, persuasion includes appeals to the emotional needs and values of an
audience to move them to approve an action or to take an action that the writer
recommends.
Therefore, argumentation is usually addressed to a general, unspecified
audience, whereas persuasion is usually keyed to the beliefs, prejudices, interests,
values and needs of a specific audience (e.g. political speeches).

Question 2

I.2. Rhetoric:

Answer 2

Sicily. This emphasis on
discovering, arranging, and presenting arguments to enhance the probability of
a claim defines the distinctive nature of persuasive discourse from this beginning
to the present day. Many ancient writers credit a teacher named Corax – a resident of the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily – with the ‘invention’ of rhetoric sometime
around 476 BC. He developed a “doctrine of general probability” to be used by
speakers in the courts.
Speech teachers were in great demand. The Greeks called these teachers ‘Sophists’
a term which literally means “wisdom bearers”.

Aristotle defined
rhetoric as “the faculty of discovering, in any given case, the available means of
persuasion.” He classified these into three types:

• Ethos (ethical): based upon the degree of credibility awarded to a speaker by listeners;
  appeal based on the character of the speaker
• Logos (logical): appeal based on intelligence, reason, logic
• Pathos: appeals to listeners` emotions
  Aristotle also classified the different situations, or “given cases”, in which speeches might
  be given:
• Deliberative, or legislative speaking
• Forensic, or speaking in the courts
• Epideictic, or “ceremonial oratory of display”, “special occasion” speaking.