Rhetorical Theory

Overview
Rhetorical Theory is the theory of persuasive speech and writing. Although classical rhetoric has existed ever since humans could communicate, it originated as a theory in Ancient Greece and Rome. Two of the most prominent forms of rhetoric are Aristotle's 3 Modes of Persuasion and Cicero's 5 Canons of Rhetoric.

History
Rhetorical theory dates back to ancient Athens, Greece. Since democracy was so prominent, Athenians needed to be ready to persuade others to vote in favor of or against certain legislation, with the outcome depending on ones rhetorical ability. As a result, schools began to form to teach others how to speak and debate. Those who taught were called "Sophists," lead by Gorgias and Isocrates. However, philosopher Aristotle viewed the Sophist unfavorably, as he saw the Sophists relying on emotions to persuade others while disregarding truth. Despite this, he saw that persuasive language had value and was necessary in teaching others about rhetoric as a tool for seeking and understanding truth. It was then he created many systems of rhetoric, including the 3 modes of persuasion.

In Rome, philosophers diverted from traditional Greek methods and utilized stories and metaphors in more stylistic fashions. During this time, philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero emphasized heavily on having a liberal education. He Believed that by having knowledge in many areas of expertise, speakers would be able to relate with bigger, more diverse audiences.

The 5 Canons of Rhetoric
Originally devised by Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (then improved by Quintilian), the 5 canons of rhetoric is a system that serves as a guide to creating speech. Although primarily attributed to public speaking, these canons can still be applied to writing, specifically the pre-writing, drafting and rewriting phases. These consist of Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery.

Invention (Inventio)
Invention is the initial creation, where the speaker or writer brainstorms ideas and comes up with what needs to be said.Typically, creation starts with a given topic, followed by a thesis and arguments.

Arrangement (Disposito)
Arrangement is the organization of speech, where the speaker arranges what ideas they have thought of to appear in a clear and concise manner for the writing stage.

Style (Elocutio)
Style is the actual writing, where everything that has been thought of and arranged now appears in written form. This is an important stage as the initial ideas can now be written down and then either further edited for use or discarded if proven useless.

Memory (Memoria)
Memory is the commitment of written text to memorization. Memorization of text is necessary for orators to memorize everything in order to successfully persuade audiences. Failure to do so can result in lackluster delivery, which ultimately fails to convince anyone and effectively end a presentation.

Delivery (Actio)
Delivery is the final step, where the moment of conviction is presented by public speakers. Here, it is important that orators utilize strong vocal commitment to convey their message. Without that conviction, any argument made will sound dull or uncertain, no matter how convincing it may seem on paper.

The 3 Modes of Persuasion
Originally developed by Aristotle in Ancient Greece, the concept of Ethos, Pathos, Logos pertains to the means of persuasion. As explained by Ülkü D. DEMİRDÖĞEN in The Roots of Research in (political) Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, Logos and the Yale Studies of Persuasive Communications, "he approached the topic of rhetoric in an analytic manner, and defined rhetoric as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. He developed his theory by empirically observing many persuaders in Athens, in the law courts and the government and emphasized three factors to which the orator needed to pay attention: ethos, pathos and logos." Although Ethos, Pathos and Logos are the main three means of persuasion, a fourth mode, Kairos, has recently become more prominent.

Ethos (Ethical Appeal)
Ethos is the persuasion of credibility and qualification. This form of persuasion requires strong knowledge in a given topic in order to convince listeners that the speaker knows what they are talking about. For example, certified professionals or those with years of experience will explain what they know wand why they believe they are qualified in order to persuade others.

Pathos (Emotional Appeal)
Pathos is the persuasion of emotions. Here, speakers target emotional appeal to convince an audience of a particular cause, typically making a case in order to solicit an emotional response from listeners. Such examples include propaganda and political campaigns, or even sad infomercials.

Logos (Logical Appeal)
Logos is the persuasion of logical facts. It is where persuasion appeals to logical thinking, often backed by data and statics in order to convinced listeners, which may include scientific data, public statistics, field research etc.

Author Antione C. Braet argues in Ethos, Patho sand Logos in Aristotle's Rhetoric: A Re-Examination* that Logos and Ethos cannot depend on each other to persuade an audience, yet Ethos can play into the conviction of an audience to accept logical data.

Kairos (Timing Appeal)
Kairos is timing. Although not as prominent, this mean of persuasion still holds relavency in modern application, as it pertains to the timing of persuasion. Author Martine Courant Rife states in Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Kairos: Using a Rhetorical Heuristic to Mediate Digital-Survey Recruitment Strategies that "...placing a well-balanced appeal to emotion at the right time, in the right place of a text, with the right ethos. In some sense, kairos trumps the other three rhetorical strategies because no matter how perfect the ethos, no matter how strong the pathos, and no matter how logical the argument, if the timing is wrong, the audience will not listen..."

Application
These systems of persuasion has been utilized in professional technical communication extensively, including document design, technical editing, user experience (UX) design and even for proposals and presentations. How employees communicate, whether orally or written, plays a major impact on whether or not the audience responds positively. Thus, it's important to consider ones language through use of words, data used, and even One example is a proposal for a regulatory solution to combat work place sexual harassment that is designed to trigger the Ethos, Pathos, logos (EPL) of employees. Here, the authors use Intelligence to establish credibility (Ethos), Interpretation to strengthen Ethos and Logos, Impact to strengthen Ethos while appealing to Logos and Pathos, Implementation to appeal to Pathos and Logos, and Integration to Strengthen Ethos and appeal to Logos.