Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil. And I'm Sam.
'Friends, Romans, countrymen,
lend me your ears!' Do you
know where these famous words
are from, Sam? I think that's a speech by
Marc Antony in William
Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. Wow, I'm impressed! Caesar has
been assassinated and Marc Antony
tries to persuade the crowd
to find his killers. Using words to persuade people,
giving them a good reason to do
what you say, or to accept your
argument, is known as
'rhetoric'. In this programme,
we'll be hearing all about
rhetoric and of course learning
some related vocabulary as well. The art of rhetoric started
with the ancient Greek
philosophers. Later, during
the Roman republic, politicians
and statesmen used rhetoric in
speeches given to crowds in
the public square. Although technology has
transformed the way we
communicate since then, the
art of rhetoric is still
alive today. Modern
politicians may prefer
Twitter to the public square,
but they still use persuasive
language, including
soundbites - short sentences
or phrases giving a message
in an easy to remember way. We'll hear more soon but
first I have a question for
you, Sam. Roman politicians
used many rhetorical tricks
to persuade people including
the argumentum ad hominum
which was an attack on their
opponent's moral character.
Another was called the
argumentum ad baculum - but
what did it mean? Was it: a) an argument based on
logic? b) an argument based
on emotion? or c) an argument based on
the stick? Well, to persuade someone
your argument needs to be
logical, so I'll say a). OK, we'll find out the
answer later. Whether you
want someone to vote for
you, or to buy what
you're selling, rhetoric
can make your message
persuasive. During his
career in the adverting
industry, Sam Tatum
learned a lot about
persuading people.
Here he explains the many
uses of rhetoric to BBC
World Service programme,
The Why Factor. Rhetoric is persuasive
language. We use it rally,
to simplify the complex,
to inspire and influence.
It's important, I think,
to identify what strategies
might be influencing us
more than we think.
By understanding the power
of language in shaping
perceptions, we can
start to see, 'I'm
wondering why people are
looking to be so concrete.
Are we trying to pull the
wool over our eyes on
something that's more
far complex than we
actually state?' As well as persuading
people, Sam Tatum says
rhetoric can be used to
rally - to bring people
together in support of
a common goal. A recent
example of this is the
way politicians called
the coronavirus our 'enemy'. The words politicians choose,
and the way they use them,
can influence us more than
we think. Sam Tatum says
we should question whether
political rhetoric is
trying to pull the wool
over our eyes, an
informal way of saying
trick or deceive us. But in the age of 24-hour
news updates and non-stop
Twitter, has the skill
of making a thoughtful
argument been lost?
Here's Kendal Phillips,
professor of political
philosophy at Syracuse
University, speaking to
BBC World Service's,
The Why Factor. It's hard to analyse
the argument or reasoning of
a tweet, 'cos 280 characters
is not a way for me to
lay out a logical argument
with a major premise, a minor
premise and a conclusion,
it's much easier to just
use a two-word phrase or
a hashtag that usually
ends up adding to that
kind of polemical division
between my side
and their side. Global problems involve
complex issues which cannot
be solved in 280 letters,
the maximum length of a tweet
allowed by Twitter.
According to Professor Kendal,
we need logical arguments
containing a premise -
something which you think
is true and you use as
the basis for developing
your idea, and a conclusion -
your decision or plan of
action based on carefully
considering all
the relevant facts. For example: climate change
is damaging the planet -
that's a premise; therefore,
we should act to stop it -
that's a conclusion. Few issues are simply black
and white though, and this
is a problem because Twitter
debates are often polemical -
argued very strongly either
for or against a particular
opinion or idea. If you believe passionately
in something, you need to
explain it to people in
a way they understand, and
in ancient times rhetoric
also meant building bridges
between people and finding
common ground. Like those
Romans you mentioned, Neil. Yes, in my question I asked
Sam for the meaning of
term, argumentum ad baculum. I guessed it was an argument
based on logic. Which was the wrong answer,
I'm afraid. In fact,
argumentum ad baculum
means the argument with
a stick, or in other words,
hitting somebody with a
stick until they agree
with you! I guess that's
one way to win an argument.
OK, let's recap the
vocabulary from the programme,
starting with a soundbite -
a short sentence or phrase
designed to stick
in the memory. When people rally together,
they unite to support
a common goal. To pull the wool over
someone's eyes means
to trick someone. Logical arguments contain
a premise - a truth used
as the basis for
developing an argument,
and a conclusion - a
decision based on
carefully considering all
the relevant facts. And finally, polemical
means strongly attacking
or defending an opinion or
idea. But there's no
arguing the fact that
once again our six
minutes are up!
Goodbye for now! Bye!