Rhetoric: How persuasive are you? - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Sam.  

'Friends, Romans, countrymen,

lend me your ears!' Do you

know where these famous words

are from, Sam? I think that's a speech by

Marc Antony in William

Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. Wow, I'm impressed! Caesar has

been assassinated and Marc Antony

tries to persuade the crowd

to find his killers. Using words to persuade people,

giving them a good reason to do

what you say, or to accept your

argument, is known as

'rhetoric'. In this programme,

we'll be hearing all about

rhetoric and of course learning

some related vocabulary as well. The art of rhetoric started

with the ancient Greek

philosophers. Later, during

the Roman republic, politicians

and statesmen used rhetoric in

speeches given to crowds in

the public square. Although technology has

transformed the way we

communicate since then, the

art of rhetoric is still

alive today. Modern

politicians may prefer

Twitter to the public square,

but they still use persuasive

language, including

soundbites - short sentences

or phrases giving a message

in an easy to remember way. We'll hear more soon but

first I have a question for

you, Sam. Roman politicians

used many rhetorical tricks

to persuade people including

the argumentum ad hominum

which was an attack on their

opponent's moral character.

Another was called the

argumentum ad baculum - but

what did it mean? Was it: a) an argument based on

logic? b) an argument based

on emotion? or c) an argument based on

the stick? Well, to persuade someone

your argument needs to be

logical, so I'll say a). OK, we'll find out the

answer later. Whether you

want someone to vote for

you, or to buy what

you're selling, rhetoric

can make your message

persuasive. During his

career in the adverting

industry, Sam Tatum

learned a lot about

persuading people.

Here he explains the many

uses of rhetoric to BBC

World Service programme,

The Why Factor. Rhetoric is persuasive

language. We use it rally,

to simplify the complex,

to inspire and influence.

It's important, I think,

to identify what strategies

might be influencing us

more than we think.

By understanding the power

of language in shaping

perceptions, we can

start to see, 'I'm

wondering why people are

looking to be so concrete.

Are we trying to pull the

wool over our eyes on

something that's more

far complex than we

actually state?' As well as persuading

people, Sam Tatum says

rhetoric can be used to

rally - to bring people

together in support of

a common goal. A recent

example of this is the

way politicians called

the coronavirus our 'enemy'. The words politicians choose,

and the way they use them,

can influence us more than

we think. Sam Tatum says

we should question whether

political rhetoric is

trying to pull the wool

over our eyes, an

informal way of saying

trick or deceive us. But in the age of 24-hour

news updates and non-stop

Twitter, has the skill

of making a thoughtful

argument been lost?

Here's Kendal Phillips,

professor of political

philosophy at Syracuse

University, speaking to

BBC World Service's,

The Why Factor. It's hard to analyse

the argument or reasoning of

a tweet, 'cos 280 characters

is not a way for me to

lay out a logical argument

with a major premise, a minor

premise and a conclusion,

it's much easier to just

use a two-word phrase or

a hashtag that usually

ends up adding to that

kind of polemical division

between my side

and their side. Global problems involve

complex issues which cannot

be solved in 280 letters,

the maximum length of a tweet

allowed by Twitter.

According to Professor Kendal,

we need logical arguments

containing a premise -

something which you think

is true and you use as

the basis for developing

your idea, and a conclusion -

your decision or plan of

action based on carefully

considering all

the relevant facts. For example: climate change

is damaging the planet -

that's a premise; therefore,

we should act to stop it -

that's a conclusion. Few issues are simply black

and white though, and this

is a problem because Twitter

debates are often polemical -

argued very strongly either

for or against a particular

opinion or idea. If you believe passionately

in something, you need to

explain it to people in

a way they understand, and

in ancient times rhetoric

also meant building bridges

between people and finding

common ground. Like those

Romans you mentioned, Neil. Yes, in my question I asked

Sam for the meaning of

term, argumentum ad baculum. I guessed it was an argument

based on logic. Which was the wrong answer,

I'm afraid. In fact,

argumentum ad baculum

means the argument with

a stick, or in other words,

hitting somebody with a

stick until they agree

with you! I guess that's

one way to win an argument.

OK, let's recap the

vocabulary from the programme,

starting with a soundbite -

a short sentence or phrase

designed to stick

in the memory. When people rally together,

they unite to support

a common goal. To pull the wool over

someone's eyes means

to trick someone. Logical arguments contain

a premise - a truth used

as the basis for

developing an argument,

and a conclusion - a

decision based on

carefully considering all

the relevant facts. And finally, polemical

means strongly attacking

or defending an opinion or

idea. But there's no

arguing the fact that

once again our six

minutes are up!

Goodbye for now! Bye!