Rhetoric

An appeal to the speaker's or writer's credibility, character, and trustworthiness. Ethos persuades by establishing the rhetor as knowledgeable, ethical, and well-intentioned so the audience is inclined to accept the message.

An appeal to the audience's emotions, values, or desires. Pathos aims to evoke feelings such as sympathy, anger, pride, or fear in order to move the audience toward a particular action or belief.

An appeal to logic and reason. Logos persuades through evidence, data, structured arguments, and rational demonstration, using deductive or inductive reasoning to support claims.

The concept of the opportune or fitting moment for rhetorical action. Kairos recognizes that the effectiveness of a message depends on its timing, context, and the readiness of the audience to receive it.

The context in which rhetoric operates, comprising the exigence (the problem or need prompting communication), the audience, and the constraints that shape how a message can be constructed and received.

A classical framework for speech preparation consisting of invention (finding arguments), arrangement (organizing them), style (choosing language), memory (internalizing the speech), and delivery (presenting it effectively).

Errors in reasoning that undermine the logic of an argument. Common fallacies include ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments, false dilemmas, slippery slopes, and appeals to authority, all of which can appear persuasive but are logically unsound.

A rhetorical syllogism in which one premise is left unstated because it is assumed to be shared by the audience. Enthymemes are the primary mode of rhetorical reasoning according to Aristotle, engaging the audience by inviting them to fill in the gap.

The application of ethos, pathos, and logos to non-textual forms of communication including images, video, graphic design, and data visualization. Visual rhetoric analyzes how design choices persuade viewers.

A method of invention from classical rhetoric used to identify the central issue in a dispute. The four stases are conjecture (did it happen?), definition (what is it?), quality (how serious is it?), and policy (what should be done?).