Words Like Loaded Pistols summary

Language sparked humanity’s development and, because where there’s language, there’s rhetoric, it’s only logical that wherever you find humans, you’ll find rhetoric as well.

In fact, rhetoric has been fundamental to Western civilization and its effects have been both positive and negative. That’s because democratic governments rely on speech and debate to function properly – the laws that society lives by are just legally-empowered words.

Aristotle broke down rhetoric into an orderly five-part structure, the first aspect of which is invention, or thinking about what you can say on a given subject. Invention can also be described as the stage during which you define the point you intend to prove and sort out which arguments and claims will help you do so.

There are often multiple ways to approach this crowning “proof” and the trick is to choose the one that fits your audience. To do so, you’ll need to consider their life philosophies, prejudices and demographic makeup.

The key to good rhetoric is effective structure. That’s because your argument will be most persuasive if you can guide your audience along a well-laid rhetorical path that emphasizes the strongest aspects of your argument while minimizing its weaknesses.

After all, it’s no coincidence that professors prone to irrelevant and boring digressions don’t do so well in their course evaluations.

So, what you say is important, but it’s not everything. The style you use to frame an argument plays an essential role as well. In fact, the style largely determines how persuasive you’ll be.

And as always, effective style is about a strong understanding of your audience. That’s because it’s essential to know what they’ll respond to. Maybe it’s a lofty, fluid style like that of Shakespeare, but the odds are it’s not.

The scene: a toy store. Center stage: a child, pleading with his parents to buy him a grossly overpriced piece of junk. This scenario is a prime example of political rhetoric.

Here’s how it works.