Class 11EWRT 2

Ambiguity in Writing

• Ambiguity occurs when the meaning of a word, a phrase, or a sentence can have two possible interpretations, and the reader cannot determine from the sentence which is the intended meaning. Sometimes, writers are intentionally ambiguous because they want to suggest multiple meanings; generally, though, ambiguity just leads to confusion.

Words with Multiple Meanings

• Ambiguity occurs because words have multiple meanings. For example, sharp may describe a knife-edge, or it may refer to a musical note. Other words have multiple meanings.

• Consider the sentence sentence, "he picked a date. Date here may refer to a fruit, a day of the year, an appointment, a romantic encounter, or the person with whom one goes to dinner. • Does this sentence mean he chose a day of the year, he made

an appointment, or he took a piece of fruit from the tree or from a plate of food offerings?

• To resolve this kind of ambiguity, make sure the meaning of the term is clear from the sentence: "He picked a date to hold the meeting."

Structural or Grammatical

Ambiguity• This type of ambiguity occurs when the reader can't determine the

intended meaning because the sentence contains two competing grammatical structures.

• For example: The sentence, "Talented women and men should apply for this job," has two possible readings. First, the sentence can mean "[Talented women] and men should apply for this job." In this case, the men need not be talented to apply, but the women must be talented. Second, the sentence can mean "[Talented women] and [talented men] should apply for this job. Both the women and the men should be talented.

• Likewise the statement, "They can fish," has two possible meanings. First, "they are able to fish," which can mean that they have the ability or the opportunity to do so. Second, the statement can mean that they put fish into cans, a manufacturing or storing process.

• To resolve structural/grammatical ambiguities, rephrase the sentence.

AGENDA

• Discussion: Machiavelli "The Qualities of the Prince" • Biography• Rhetorical Strategies• Questions for Critical Reading

• QHQ Discussion Vocabulary (Time Permitting)

• Essay #2: Choose your prompt (Time Permitting)

Niccolo Machiavelli?

Who was

Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469.

He is notable for his essays on politics, particularly his infamous treatise on power entitled The Prince.

He came form a political family. He held a privileged positionHe had a wife and sixteen children.

In 1494 Machiavelli became a clerk at the chancery at Adrian. Later, he became a secretary to the Council of Ten, which was the governing body in charge of diplomacy and military organization for the new Florentine republican government.

He observed the workings of foreign affairs firsthand. He met with other political leaders to see how their countries were ruled. He carried out several diplomatic missions to Germany, Spain, and other Italian city-states.

In 1512 the Medici family regained power in Florence, putting an end to republican rule. As a result, Machiavelli was forced out of his job and temporarily imprisoned. He returned to his country estate near San Casciano after his release and wrote several books on politics, including, On the Art of War, History of Florence, Discourses on Livy, and The Prince, which was dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici in an attempt to gain favor with the ruling family.

Machiavelli wrote a first version of The Prince in 1513, but it was not published until 1532—five years after his death.

In your groups

• Discuss the rhetorical strategies of Machiavelli.

• Discuss the “Questions for Critical Thinking” on page 50. Find textual support for your answers!

Which are the Rhetorical

Strategies of Machiavelli?

Pragmatic (concerned with practical results).

Gives directions; How-to Book Brief and to the point Uses historical precedents to support his

points Appeals to common sense Suggests alternate arguments and then

shows why they are wrong. Gives the appearance of fairness and

thoroughness Discusses opposite pairings, including

both sides of an issue Compare and contrast

Aphorism

Questions for Critical Reading

Machiavelli “The Qualities of the Prince”

QHQs: What do you think?

Q: Why does Machiavelli say that it is “much safer to be feared than to be loved” (para. 14).

Q: Have Machiavelli’s conjectures in “On Generosity and Miserliness” been

inverted in present-times?

[. . .]

Why must a good leader think of nothing else except for war? Wouldn’t that lead to losing his followers because they are all dead or injured?

Why does Machiavelli encourage the prince to act as a military commander with full control of the army?

Why does Machiavelli put so much emphasis on the nation’s military power?

Do nation’s today get their idea of power from Machiavelli?

Machiavelli and Military Might

If we take Machiavelli’s opinion about men as fact, that men are “ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain” (46,para 14, Machiavelli), can we presume that modern democracy is a flawed concept?

Does Machiavelli’s advice apply to rulers who are concerned about their subjects’ well being?

How does condoning cruelty advocate a merciful ruler?

Machiavelli and His Subjects

The Virtue of a PrinceHow does a prince maintain honesty, when Machiavelli

states that he has to learn how to deceive?

Machiavelli talks about having to appear all that is good and to be loved, while not being the same as his reputation, as it is impossible to govern well if one is generous and kind. Is having two faces the best way to lead?

If a prince is only worried about appearance, how does he maintain balance with his true qualities or does he depart from them and becomes a creation of his subjects?

Lao Tzu and Machiavelli

When comparing Lao Tzu and Machiavelli, they are pretty different in the way they see human nature is; which one seems to be more accurate in this day and age?

Where does Machiavelli’s active view on war stand against Lao-Tzu’s passive view in terms of success and prosperity for both the people and the ruler?

VocabularyExam 4: Class 12

At our next meeting!

Vocabulary

• Ad hominem: "against the man"; attacking the arguer rather than the argument or issue.

• Appeal to tradition: a proposal that something should continue because it has traditionally existed or been done that way.

• Argument: a process of reasoning and advancing proof about issues on which conflicting views may be held; also, a statement or statements providing support for a claim.

• Authority: a respectable, reliable source of evidence.

Begging the question: the arguer proves his conclusion while assuming it to already be true. The premise for his argument is based on the truth of his conclusion. In other words, the argument assumes to be true what it is supposed to be proving.

Claim: the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying to prove.

Credibility: the audience's belief in the arguer's trustworthiness

Deduction: reasoning by which we establish that a conclusion must be true because the statements on which it is based are true

Ethos: the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in an argument that contribute to an audience's acceptance of the claim.

Euphemism: a pleasant or flattering expression used in place of one that is less agreeable but possibly more accurate.

Evidence: facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may consist of statistics, reports of personal experience, or views of experts.

Fallacy: an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence or incorrect inference.

False analogy: assuming without sufficient proof that if objects or processes are similar in some ways, then they are similar in other ways as well;

• Faulty use of authority: failing to acknowledge disagreement among experts or otherwise misrepresenting the trustworthiness of sources.

• Generalization: a statement of general principle derived inferentially from a series of examples.

• Hasty generalization: drawing conclusions from insufficient evidence.

• Inference: an interpretation of the facts.

• Motivational appeal: an attempt to reach an audience by recognizing their needs and values and how these contribute to their decision making.

• Non sequitur: "it does not follow"; using irrelevant proof to buttress a claim.

• Post hoc: mistakenly inferring that because one event follows another they have a causal relation; from post hoc ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of this"); also called "doubtful cause."

• Qualifier: a restriction placed on the claim to state that it may not always be true as stated.

• Refutation: an attack on an opposing view in order to weaken it, invalidate it, or make it less credible.

• Slanting: selecting facts or words with connotations that favor the arguer's bias and discredit alternatives.

• Slippery slope: predicting without justification that one step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second, generally undesirable step.

• Values: conceptions or ideas that act as standards for judging what is right or wrong, worthwhile or worthless, beautiful or ugly, good or bad.

Thinking about Essay #2

• Write an essay of at least 2 pages but not more than 3 pages in response to our readings.• Lao Tzu: Suggestions for Writing: Pages 32-

33• Machiavelli: Suggestions for Writing: Pages

50-51• Your essay should be formatted in MLA style.

• Pay attention to the details of the formatting.

HOMEWORK• Post #21: Before 6pm if you can! How can we apply the

philosophy of Machiavelli and/or Lao-Tzu to A Game of Thrones? Post textual evidence (excerpts of text) from both sources to prove your points. Make sure to include page numbers so we can follow along in class. (Print and bring your post to class)

• Post #22 Essay #2 (2-3 pages: Due Friday before noon) • Choose your topic from "Suggestions for Writing" pages

32-33, prompts 1-6 or pages 50-51 prompts 1-5. Electronic copy due this Friday before noon.

• Study Vocabulary for exam #4: Next Class

• Bring A World of Ideas, printed versions of the text, or be able to access them on your device—not your phone!