Blog 10: The Power of Persuasion

I would first like to offer my thoughts on how Richard Toye goes about talking about rhetoric. For me, it was confusing how he jumped around in time it seemed. Also, this style of writing is difficult for me to read personally. However, I do feel that I know more about what rhetoric is and how it has been used in the past. The big thing that I got out of the introduction and chapter one was rhetoric is about persuasion. Rhetoric is such a powerful tool. It was first discussed back by Aristotle and Plato. Another important thing that was mentioned was how there can not be a set of rules defining what rhetoric is and how it can be used to be successful in your task. You can not make assumptions about your audience. This changes based on factors such as class, gender, and race.

I think rhetoric has been very controversial in its inception, but has also been very important in many roles such as leadership. It is very important to learn how to use rhetoric and how it can be used against you. I did not fully understand the importance of why we should be teaching students about rhetoric until reading this first bit in the book. Being able to make a good case and being persuasive can get you very far in certain situations.

Questions:

Did you know what rhetoric was before taking this class?

Have you ever used rhetoric before in any situation, if so can you name that situation?

Picture taken from: https://www-tc.pbs.org/parents/adventures-in-learning/files/2015/11/powerofpersuasion.jpg

Toye, Richard. Rhetoric: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2013. Print.