The main thing I learned during the rhetorical analysis unit was the term Kairos. If someone had asked me what Kairos were before this unit I would have no idea how to respond. Kairos is the opportunity to state an argument. Recognizing these is important in politics. If someone wants to bring a topic up when no one else is interested in the topic then they will be sadly disappointed with the lack of response they get. You need to be patient when bringing up arguments in a group. I can apply this concept to my daily life as well. I need to remember that my audience has to be interested in the topic I’m talking about or I will get a response less than satisfactory.
Secondly, although I already knew what, ethos, pathos, and logos are it was a nice refresher to go over them again. I enjoyed being able to look at them in a more complex way than just emotions, reputation, and logic.
Lastly, I learned that there are different types of arguments; forensic, deliberative, and epideietic. Forensic arguments have to do with past issues, while deliberative arguments are future issues. Epideietic, which I am still unsure is a real word because no word programs recognize is as one, are arguments dealing with present issues. More specifically they are usually arguments dealing with praise or blame.
One thing that surprised me during this unit was how loose the definition of an argument was. I always thought of an argument as two people yelling at each other. This is not the case in rhetoric. I learned that people used to get together in the purpose of argument. They looked for opportunities to argument, either to show their knowledge or expand on it.
I also wrote about how I learned about kairos! High school of course covered the basic ethos, logos, and pathos, so it was interesting to learn another term to add to the mix. I too was surprised about the definition of argument, but it does make sense. The term “argument” has such a negative connotation that it’s hard to get over when we are discussing rhetoric.
I found Kairos to be a really beneficial idea that we’d never seen before. Before this unit, I didn’t really think about timing as an important rhetorical tool. I always thought that what you were saying was the most important thing but I didn’t realize just how important the timing of what you say is and how it can drastically alter the effectiveness of your argument.
I agree. I really didn’t know what any of the rhetorical devices were before going in to it, so this was a big learning experience for me. I think if you can understand these rhetorical devices and are able to apply them to your own life, you’re going to be able to have better conversations. The whole term “rhetoric” is rather vague.