Week 6: The Art of Rhetoric and Persuasion

What is Rhetoric?

Most of us, if not, would define rhetoric as the art of effective communication that uses language as a means to persuade. However, according to Blair (2004), the definition for rhetoric does not restricted itself to the use of language (i.e. by means of speech) to persuade “because non-argumentative speech or non-argumentative properties of speech can be persuasive” (p. 42). Thus, Trapp et. al (n.d) argued that definition of rhetoric should be brought in a broader concept: “to define rhetoric broadly as the uniquely human ability to use symbols to communicate with one another…for example an artist presenting an image on canvas” – or in other words, visual rhetoric (Trapp et. al (n.d) as cited in Blair, 2004, p. 42). Just like how verbal rhetoric use rhetorical elements of speech to persuade, virtual rhetoric, on the other hand, use rhetorical elements that work in form of expression e.g. using representational images that constitutes only a subset of visual elements (Hill, 2004). Rhetorical persuasion therefore can be both verbal and visual.

In the Ancient Greek, Plato believed that rhetoric was “the art of flattery and had no use of seeking truth” (Rose, (n.d), p. 151) thus suggest that rhetoric as useful tools of persuasion. However, Aristotle reject his idea suggesting that the important idea of rhetoric lies not in seeking the truth but how to communicate the subjective “truth” effectively through ‘available means of persuasion’. Aristotle, therefore, saw rhetoric as neutral means by which “the orator could be either accomplishes noble ends or further fraud” (Griffin, 2009, p. 279). In another words, the use of rhetoric is up to the intention of the arguer – good or evil. For Aristotle, rhetoric is about finding the best mode for persuasion.

Enthymemes

According to Aristotle, the best principal of rhetoric is to convince the audience through indirect persuasion using demonstration’s instrument, which he called as enthymemes. Enthymeme is an incomplete syllogism, which is a form of deductive argument whereby the “arguer deliberately leaves unstated a premise that is essential to its reasoning [which will then direct the audience to derive with their own conclusion] by filling the unexpressed premise” (Blair, 2004, p. 41). Enthymeme is so powerful in that it lets the audience to voluntarily construct their own conclusion from the deductive reasoning (or logic) of the arguer. The use of enthymeme is also very effective in visual than in verbal.

Let’s take some of the examples below to show how it works:-

The above example use visual as its rhetorical form of argument. Here, the propositional argument is achieved through deductive reasoning. The image shows an illustration of a man with his eyes are closed which signify censorship. His mouth is shut signifies the idea of speech freedom. The hands of the ‘press’ people signify the press freedom and the control of media by the government.

Hence, the propositional premises here can be structured as:

Premise 1: The use of censorship to limit press and speech freedom

Premise 2: The control of media by the government

Thus, the unstated premise (enthymeme) which is the deductive argument in this picture is: ‘the control of media by the government through the practise of censorship’.

A good example for this is China which has been at the center of international attention for its media censorship policy - “a media policy that involve increases increased regulations as well as the arrest and prosecution of journalists” (Battacharji, 2010, Para. 2). The demand for more information flow in the country is restricted by Government through strict media content-control regulations with aim to maintain its power in the country by proposing an ideology that Chinese citizens must defend "the security, honour, and interests of the motherland" (Para. 4).

The rhetorical image below, for example, shows how internet freedom has restricts Chinese citizens from freedom of speech and press.

The red star symbol illustrated on the military tanks help viewers to relate the above image to political situation in China. With the military tanks signify the Government power to control, and the person sitting on the road with his laptop signify an activist or a Chinese citizen that risking his life for a justice to internet freedom.

Hence, the structured premises here are:

Premise 1: internet freedom in China

Premise 2: The control of media by the Government

Thus, the enthymeme in this image is: ‘the control of Government to internet freedom in China’.

The above examples shows how rhetoric can be used for a good cause, in this case, to seek justice for the unheard voices. The arguer of these visual-rhetorical images effectively used enthymemes as a powerful tool to convince the wider audience by indirectly directing them to participate in their own persuasion by making conclusion base on the 'logical results and consequences of the propositional premises' of the arguer.

REFERENCES

Battacharji, P. (2010). Media Censorship in China. Retrieved September 23 2010, from http://www.cfr.org/publication/11515/media_censorship_in_china.html

Blair, J., &Hill, C., Helmers, M. (Eds). (2004) The Rhetoric of Visual Argument In Defining Visual Rhetorics. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pg 42. Retrieved September 23 2010, from http://books.google.com.bn

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory (7^th ed). United States: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Rose, J. (n.d). The Advertising of Politics and Politics of Advertising. Retrieved 23 September, 2010 from http://post.queensu.ca/~rosej/cics.pd