Riassunto esame Lingua inglese, prof. Partington, libro consigliato Persuasion in Politics, Partington, Taylor

Unit. 2. Ways of persuading

Authors on rhetoric have categorized the many and varied methods of persuasion in different

ways, cited, at general level of division, between ‘persuasion by appeal to reason’ and

‘persuasion by appeal to the emotions’.

Another similar distinction is between ideational or conceptual persuasion and interpersonal

persuasion. In the first, an author attempts primarily to persuade an audience of the veracity, logic

or usefulness of his or her ideas. In the second, an author attempts to convince others that he or

she is honest, interesting and worthy of attention, respect, friendship or some other desired

interpersonal service or product, or tries to persuade them that they are lacking of some quality,

product or service (health, safety, etc…) that the speaker is able to provide.

Four models

We can concentrate on four major ‘models of persuasion’, namely:

1. Authority;

2. Comparison;

3. Problem – solution;

4. Association.

2.1. Authority

In persuasion by authority, the persuader appeals to some sort of high authority to convey and

strengthen their message. One example is religion or academic and scientific writing.

2.2. Comparison or analogy

In this case the persuader invites us to compare and contrast an argument, policy, product, etc.

with one or more others. The assumption or implication of course is that one is better than the

others.

At election time, the incumbent party (that is, the party in power at the time of election), tends to

produce slogans warning electors of the dangers of change. In contrast, opposition parties, or

challengers, tend to produce slogans holding out the hope of a future that will be better than the

present.

2.3. Problem-solution

In this method, the persuader first proposes and outlines a supposed problem and suggests that

he or she has the solution to it.

2.4. Association 4

Persuasion by association is largely conducted through resources other than language. Music,

images, background scenery, logos, and so on, all create associations in our mind about a person

party or policy. Critics claim that there has been a huge increase in the use of associative

techniques in political propaganda. It is called ‘image politics’, the implication being that image

politicians favour form over substance of ideas.

Unit. 3. Cave emptor! Arguments good and bad, true and false, logical and non-logical

3.1. Ad hominem

The ‘ad hominem’ (or ‘ad personam’) is one of the most common of the classical non-rational

arguments. We can define it as “attacking a person rather than his or her arguments”. The person

might be either the opponent in an argument or some authority called upon in support of an

argument we oppose.

3.2. Tu quoque: (also known as: ‘you are just as bad’ or ‘two wrongs make it all right’)

This is a subcategory of the ad hominem technique in which the person making an argument is

accused of having spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with their argument. In another variant, if

a person A criticizes the actions of a person B, a tu quoque response is that A has acted in the

same way.

3.3. The splippery slope

The slippery slope argument is so frequent that it has acquired a good number of popular names,

including ‘once we start allowing…’: this argument draws upon the assumption that something is

wrong because it could slide towards or could turn into or could open the door to something that

is wrong.

3.4. (False) binary opposition (false dichotomy, the excluded middle)

First of all, only items which are considered to be related in some way are treated as opposites on

antonyms.

Secondly, we can identify three distinct types of antonym (n.t. contrari):

1. Gradable antonyms: are words that mark two extremes on a cline, for example what is

between hot and cold.

2. Complementary antonyms: could be considered the ‘real’ opposites because they are not

gradable and are mutually exclusive, for example dead-alive.

3. Converse antonyms: describe different perspectives on relationship or activities, for

example husband-wife. The existence of a husband invokes the existence of a wife.

3.5. Short term versus long term

3.6. False parallels (odd couples)

Another common rhetorical tactic or trick is to link two different phenomena together and imply

they are very similar, for instance: film sex and violence are fatally eroding society. 5

But what do they have in common?

3.7. Causation or correlation? (post hoc ergo propter hoc: after this, therefore because of this)

Cause and effect would seem to be simple matters. But just because two events happen at the

same time or two phenomena co-exist at the same time does not mean that one necessarily

causes the other.

Two phenomena can be linked by a third factor

Many seemingly causal relations are in fact simply both being brought about by a third outside

factor. This especially happens in medicine.

Two phenomena might simply be coincidence

Sometimes in complex matters, it can be very difficult to distinguish whether two phenomenon

are linked causally or coincidentally.

Unit. 4. The rhetoric of liberty, freedom, emancipation

4.1. Rhetoric in the soundbite (n.t. estratto) age

Gradually many politicians began to appreciate the power of television that can reach many more

people than a whole tour around the country. But the television very rarely reports an entire

speech. It tends, instead, to show highlights, perhaps during the TV news. So politicians began to

model speeches so that they contained numerous short, striking phrases that they hoped the TV

editor would pick out for broadcast. Such phrases have come to be called ‘soundbites’.

4.2. Binomials and bicolons

Binomials are semi-fixed phrases which are very common in the language in general, in both literal

and figurative forms, e.g. salt and pepper, man and wife, one and all. They have been defined as

“two or more words or phrases belonging to the same grammatical category, having come

semantic relationship and joined by some syntactic device such as and or or”. They also have some

phonological similarity to emphasises the parallelism e.g. hire and fire.

Bicolons are expressions containing two parallel phrases and thus tend to be rather extended than

binomials. They are common in the Bible for instance.

4.3. The three-part list (or tricolon)

Like the bicolor, the tricolon employs parallelism. As the phrase implies, three parallel items. The

simplest kind of three-part list or tricolon is the repetition of three words: Maggie, Maggie,

Maggie/Out out out.

Or a more elegant variation: It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

4.4. Beyond three 6

Sometimes we find longer parallel structures, a kind of elegant variation on the tricolon, for

example: first the ignore you, then the laugh at you, then they fight you. Then you win.

4.5. The contrasting pair (or antithesis)

It’s a structure containing two parts (and as such can be considered a subcategory of bicolon)

which are parallel in structure but at the same time somehow opposed in meaning.

4.6. Oxymoron

The last structure is the oxymoron, where two apparently contradictory elements are combined in

a single word, phrase or epigram. Like bittersweet, noble savage, etc. or in politics like, radical

conservatives, extreme moderate or left-wing fascist.

4.7. Rhetorical figures in times gone by: liberty, freedom and emancipation

In the following section we will look at the language and the messages of three important US

documents: the Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address and I Have a Dream. They

have many links: they each have the pursuit of liberty as one of their main themes, the second

makes explicit reference to the first, the third to both. All three have made considerable

contribution to the way Americans see themselves and probably the world sees America. But they

also have different emphasis.

4.8. The Declaration of Independence

It was first drafted by Thomas Jefferson and sequently revised by the Congress and ratified by the

same in 1776. Its overall tone is defensive, because British were accusing Americans to be selfish

and disloyal, since they had just fought a war against French largely to defend the colonists.

4.9. The Gettysburg Address

It was a speech delivered in November 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln to inaugurate the

National Cemetery on the site of one the decisive battles of the American Civil War, in which the

Northern army was able to defeat the Southern army.

Unit. 5. Metaphors and company: subtle persuaders

We might recall that comparison was one of the major models of persuasion and was classified as

one of the more rational types. However, argument by analogy is often, ‘pseudo-rational’ at best.

The kinds of figures we will concentrate on here include metaphor, simile and metononymy.

5.1. Metaphors

It’s a figure of speech in which a name or quality is attributed to something to which it is not

literally applicable, e.g. ‘an icy glance’, ‘nerves of steel’.

How metaphors work 7

A certain quality (we shall call this the basis or grounds of the resemblance), supposed to belong

to an entity (the source), is re-applied or transferred to another entity (the target), which is usually

of a very different type from the source. Finally, metaphors always express and evaluation of the

target in terms of good or bad, praise or blame, and so on, which is why they are so useful in

persuasive argument.

Ex: Metaphor, Richard the Lion-Heart-> target, Richard-> source, the lion’s heart-> ground of the

resemblance? Courage, strength-> evaluation, good.

Sport and war

Beard notes how sport and war are two areas of experience which are frequently raided to obtain

political metaphors, for example:

 Sport: the gloves are off, to play ball, etc.

 War: bombarded with questions, take flak, etc.

5.2. Similes

A simile is a statement which makes a comparison between two entities which are deliberately

very unlike, for example: encyclopedias are like gold mines.

They contain an overt expression of comparison, for instance: like, as, reminds, etc.

Just like metaphors they evaluate, and we can analyse them in a similar way.

They often allow the author to extend the analogy and develop the grounds, explaining why x is

like y.

Making the ‘right noises’

5.3. Metonymies

In a metonym, instead, some entity is alluded to by mention of something else connected or

associated with it. The dictionary definition is: a figure of speech in which the name of one object

or entity or concept is used to refer to another to which it is somehow related, for example, the

Crown to indicate sovereignty, or the bottle to indicate alcoholic drink, to count heads meaning to

count people.

In politics an important set of metonyms are topological, that is, the places where political event

happen are used to stand for those even