Debating another person can be intimidating. Your knowledge of a subject you feel passionate about is put in the spotlight and judged by how much you understand both about it and the other side. An argument must be based on facts, which is why a lot of the situations we consider arguments are actually not. A heated discussion about morality and someone’s behavior can reach emotional highs when it crosses into personal territory. The further we drift from fact and into emotion, the more ground we lose in order to persuade someone to our side. We are meant to combine both logic and passion in a debate. By using both in an argument, your insight becomes balanced. If you are uninformed, how do you understand what you’re saying? If you lack passion for your topic, then why are you arguing? The most important is credibility, and if you lack that where do you stand?
Logic and passion can be displayed through a systematic approach. As a high schooler, I ran track and field and was told to set up a training plan to reach specific times for my races. The product of my running became the outcome of small details I would do after a run. Aspects such as getting enough sleep, eating well, or running hills after a workout. The little steps I took counted toward the overall product. When writing an informative piece, you should approach the process with strategy. The system set up for this allows us to move towards a persuasive end product. The five canons of Rhetoric give us steps and a system to follow. These consist of; invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. These 5 canons help us constructively think about what and why we are arguing.
Invention gives us a place to begin. Wilson and Wilson state in The Rhetoric Companion that invention focuses on the problem. Within invention, we have the proofs of ethos, pathos, and logos; a triad that forms an argument properly. All statements made could be sorted into one of these three categories. A focused topic allows you to draw upon the connection it has to others. Information used should appeal to the audience in a substantial way through all three. To appeal to my audience through logic and reason will cause them to see the nuance in the argument. A passionate and emotional appeal will allow my audience to empathize with me in the correct context. Of the three, credibility and ethical appeal will allow my audience to take my word for it. In the beginning, when gathering information, we should holistically consider who and where we are to make this argument before organizing it.
Arrangement is what we use to make our arguments organized in a way that our audience will understand them. An audience will be more willing to listen to your argument if arrangement is employed. If you were standing on the side of the road, and a stranger offered to pick you up, you would likely not go with them. If the most credible and reliable person you knew offered to give you a ride to a specific place and told you the directions, you would feel more persuaded to go with them. Organizing your argument gives your audience a road map to follow your statements and claims so they know where you are taking them. Through this canon, you ask “may I challenge your stance”, then layout the way in which you plan to do so. After a person agrees to have their ideas challenged, you must directly show why the argument has personal meaning.
How does one display their own meaning? Style is not just presentation, but depth and clarity in an argument. How are you trying to persuade the audience to feel? The technical accounts for style are rhythm, word choice, and even emphasis on syllables. Word choice and emphasis are a heavy consideration in monologues and screenwriting. In season 5 of the show Bojack Horseman, the character Diane confronts the protagonist Bojack about the morally grey actions he has taken. The argument dissects the idea of accountability for one’s worst actions. Bojack argues ‘he has suffered most’ due to having to actively live with himself every day and his choices. Diane confronts him with the loss of his on-screen daughter on account of his substance abuse and how his choices led to that. Alison Brie as Diane, portrays a venomous tone in this scene, emphasizing words such as deserved, and ‘most’ as Bojack used it in his statement. The application of style and pathos in this scene gives it the gut-wrenching feel that changes your opinion on the characters that are involved in it. Ralph Bob-Waksberg considered the strategy of style and tone in character speech in order to get the audience to emphasize with Diane when writing the scene. If your argument (or in the case of the example, dialogue) has substance, your style will only enhance it on account of being able to correctly portray it to your audience.
You cannot read off of a paper and have a fully fleshed out enhanced argument. Memory is both a canon of rhetoric and a muscle to be exercised. As someone in the sciences, I have learned to effectively use this to my benefit in both presentations and testing. While route memorization the night before a test is not the answer for understanding information, healthy amounts of it in extended periods of time can help the information to stick. Memory is a mechanical precursor to thinking and understanding. Before I understand a scientific concept, I have to commit it to memory. Even in science, there is a linguistic aspect to it. Once the terminology is with me, I am able to better process a concept as I read it from multiple sources. When the test comes around, and I have studied enough, the information means something to me. The roles played by different cellular structures are something that has crossed over from memorized terms to organelles with distinct roles in the human body. If we have our facts committed to memory, we can fully digest them and understand them. After an understanding is reached, our words start to be spoken with meaning. This envelopes logos, and understanding what you are talking about. Understanding your topic is important, but it is more important to tell people what you know.
To have wisdom and bury it is regarded as wasted potential. The product of our credibility, logic, and passion should be given to others in some capacity. Delivery is the final product. In a technical sense, delivery is; voice, pitch, body language, and rhythm. All canons and proofs act as components of delivery. The holistic aspect of delivery should feel natural, as though all the pieces of a puzzle have fit together and created a picture for you and your audience. Your delivery is a demonstration to the audience of your character, mind, and heart. In the book of Matthew, chapter 25 tells us ‘The Parable of the Talents’. The verses tell of three servants who were each given a different amount of talents (a unit of measurement) by their master. While two of the servants traded and gained more talents, one held onto the singular talent they had. The first two servants were applauded by their master and their use of what he had given them, the third was scorned as he held tightly to what he was supposed to give away, as it had done him and others no good since he kept it to himself. This parable exemplifies the importance of delivery. What you know is of no use if you hide it to yourself. If it is important to you for a reason then hiding it will not benefit you or your cause.
‘Rhetoric is a person of a good character speaking well’, all five of the canons fall under this saying. The canons account for your morality, reason, and emotion behind your topic. Shallow sayings and empty sentiments all too often fill up space where meaningful discussions should be. The ideals that you genuinely stand behind are difficult to put through scrutinization. The five canons do not just enable other people to learn from you, but you to learn from yourself. Through learning to analyze and understand your own rhetoric, you may find something about yourself or thought process that may have gone unrecognized before. Whether good or bad, understanding why you believe something is incredibly important to your own growth.
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