Vocabulary 14

Rhetorical Appeal

Strategies used to persuade an audience

Emotional appeal

• (pathos) – technique of manipulating someone’s emotions

Ethical Appeal

• (ethos) – technique that appeals to someone’s moral values

Logical Appeal• (logos) – technique that tries to convince you

to make the right decision, smart decision or best choice based on logic

Ad Hominem

• arguments that attack a person’s character rather than an issue

Bandwagon Appeal

• – a statement that seems to be true because of popular support by desirable people

False Authority

• Using a suspicious, biased, or non-credible source to defend a conclusion

• “Because I said so”

Glittering Generalities

• – a vague statement used to evoke positive feelings rather than convey information

Red Herring

• Misleading or unrelated evidence to support a conclusion; draws attention away from the central issue 1. Topic A is under discussion.

2. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). 3. Topic A is abandoned.

Example: “Why do I have to study math? I don’t want to be a math teacher.”

* The desire to be a math teacher is not the point.

Slippery Slope

• A course of action that seems to lead to additional actions until some undesirable consequence results