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Essentials Of Persuasion

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Gerard A. Hauser covers a plethora of details on how to create a well-made persuasive argument in his book, an Introduction to Rhetorical Theory; however, he covered three specific essentials that are necessary for persuasion: the components logos, pathos and ethos; purposive discourse and rhetorical competence; identification. I will argue for each constituent, respectively, to prove that persuasion cannot thrive without the aforementioned essentials. The first essential of persuasion involves the structure of the argument being posed by one who is trying to provoke others to action. In order to convince someone of a new argument, idea or moral, one must use the proper methods: logos, ethos and pathos. According to Hauser, “The method …show more content…

One who is posing an argument is a great deal more likely to persuade the audience if one has the proper authority. For example, if a driver is speeding down the freeway, that driver will be much more likely to pull over if there is a police car in pursuit, as opposed to an ice cream truck. Why will the speedster pull over for the police car? Because the policeman in the car has the proper authority and is able to uphold the law, unlike the ice cream truck driver. Arguments work similarly to the ice cream truck example. If one tries to motivate people to change, one must have the proper authority. While one may be a well-researched scholar on the matter, it does not make a difference to the audience if one does not have the proper position. Concerning the importance of ethos, Hauser stated, “When assessing the ethos of communicators, the bilaterality principle can alert us to practices that are symptoms of seduction rather than of intellectual, moral, and emotional virtues and thereby help us to make better choices about the world we live in” (163). In this way, Hauser asserts that another critical angle of ethos is that of integrity. Arguers with the proper ethos tend to tell the truth and teach for the listener’s benefit; on the other hand, those without the established authority usually work more to convince audiences to change for the arguer’s own benefit. Why do faithful members of a church listen to counsel from their

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