Glossary

flash cards

Term: agnostic
Synonym(s): skeptical
Definition: Derived from the Greek ágnost(os), unknown or unknowable, an agnostic hasn't yet decided if something is or is not the case because he or she thinks the evidence is inconclusive. If you want to understand an argument, you have to listen carefully before you pick a side.

Term: argument
Synonym(s): discussion, disagreement, collective expression for everything offered as proof in support of a clai
Definition: A form of writing where the author's goal is to improve opinions and correct errors in thinking, the reader's stance is skeptical but open minded and the primary rhetorical tools are precise definitions, accurate identification of the relevant stasis, data, evidence, inferences.

Term: arrangement
Definition: One of the 5 rhetorical canons, how to best order information in order to achieve an intended outcome from a specific audience.

Term: assumption
Synonym(s): a given
Definition: A statement offered without proof. Week arguments often rest on unstated assumptions that are readily challenged if noticed.

Term: asystasis
Definition: A disagreement that can't be resolved as it is stated because the evidence is imperfect or incomplete; the evidence is equally balanced; there's no evidence of any kind or the pursuit of it will be endless; there's no real dispute because one side's assertion is prima facie nonesense, all of the evidence is to the contrary.

Term: availability bias
Definition: The natural human tendency to use whatever example of some thing or event is upper most in mind as a paradigm for all other instances. If you watch a lot of local news, and hear regularly about fires and shootings and carjackings, you will tend to think of the city you live in as a dangerous place. If you don't watch the news and have had no traumatic personal experiences, you might think your city is a safe place. Neither inference is fully warranted because you're relying on a general impression.

Term: backing
Definition: In the Toulmin model, any statement that increases the believablity of warrant and the validity of the data

Term: bios
Synonym(s): characterization
Definition: Greek for "life," it is a narrative about a specific individual, an historical figure or a person of note. The writer's goal is to make the reader feel as though she now knows the person being written about. The primary rhetorical tools are anecdote, narrative, remenisence of contemporaries, and, friends, and colleagues, and acquaintances, historical and geographical details, photographs, letters.

Term: claim
Synonym(s): assertion proposition
Definition: A sentence offered for agreement.

Term: coercion
Definition: Stating that a specific punishment will follow non-compliance or further disagreement.

Term: cognitive bias
Definition: The human brain has a natural tendency to substitute simple solutions for complicated problems. We think we see the world exactly as it is whereas we mostly see what we want to see. We tend to go for quick over accurate. We also tend to prefer what we know, even if what we know is worse than what we don't. The psychologist Daniel Kahneman brought these cognitive facts to the world's attention. You should read Thinking Fast and Slow. You should also look up cognitive biases on wikipedia, as there are a great many of them.

Term: commonplace
Synonym(s): stereotype, figure of thought, trope
Definition: A subject about which everyone has something to say and everyone says more or less the same things, with a few variations in style and even fewer variations in perspective, a sort of cognitive cliché . Commonplaces are the ways we tend to think and the things we tend to say when we don't pause to consider an instance as an individual. Have a look at TV Tropes

Term: confirmation bias
Definition: The natural human tendency to be drawn to evidence that supports our beliefs and to ignore or discount evidence to the contrary.

Term: creative writing
Definition: A form of writing where the author's goal is to delight and entertain, the reader's stance is to suspend disbelief and assume the role the author provides. The primary rhetorical tools are narrative, vivid language, plot, and charactrization.

Term: data
Definition: Information gathered by a person or machine that can help to explain or describe a phenomenon or prove that it exists. In the Toullmin model it is any direct evidence offered in support of a claim.

Term: delivery
Definition: One of the 5 rhetorical canons, the one dealing with voice and gesture and stance during a speech. In the literate world it has to do with paper and font and color and texture and layout and design. In the digital world delivery is about font and color and movement and sound and responsive design.

Term: doxa
Synonym(s): popular opinion, belief, received opinion
Definition: Doxa is a Greek word for opinion. In the rhetorical tradition it was used to contrast what people tend to believe with what reason would insist they ought to believe. The word orthodox meant corrected opinion the way orthodonture means corrected teeth.

Term: enthymeme
Definition: A claim followed by a compelling warrant, expressed as a single sentence. Typically the warrant is provided by a because clause in it. The data is left unsaid and the audience is expected to insert it or not notice its absence. Eg, You should get a college degree because you will make on average a million more dollars over your lifetime than if you don't.

Term: ethos
Definition: The form of rhetorical proof that focuses on how the author represents his or herself. Traditionally one creates a positive ethos by demonstrating good sense and good will and effectiveness.

Term: exposition
Synonym(s): creative non-fiction, textbook prose
Definition: A form of writing where the author's goal is to instruct, the reader's stance is to learn, and the primary rhetorical tools are definition, illustration, example.

Term: fact
Definition: A claim that a specific audience will accept without evidence or support. There are few universal or objective facts in the sense of claims any person would accept without evidence, but for a given audience there may be many facts.

Term: fallacy
Definition: A logically invalid form of thought or expression. You can find an adequate list of fallacies at wikipedia.

Term: frame
Synonym(s): spin
Definition: Any effort to control perspective, emphasizing some things and de-emphasizing others.

Term: God&Devil terms
Definition: Words that have an absolutely, unquestionably positive or negative value for an audience. Motherhood, family, America. What is a god term for some might be a devil term for others.

Term: intimidation
Definition: Suggesting that some unspecified punishment will follow non-compliance or further disagreement.

Term: invention
Definition: One of the 5 rhetorical canons, various techniques (e.g. commonplaces, dialectic) for coming up with things to say or write about.

Term: manipulation
Definition: Using what motivates a person to do something he or she isn't otherwise motivated to do, often sureptitiously.

Term: memory
Definition: One of the 5 canons of rhetoric, the one dealing with remembering what you want to say and in what order you want to say it. That said, there's more to memory than just memorization. If you sound like you are reciting a speech from memory, you won't be as convincing as you would be if you sounded like you were thinking clearly on your feet, a spontaneous expression of knowledge and commitment.

Term: modal
Definition: In the Toulmin model, and adjective or adjectival phrase that indicates the level of of agreement the author thinks the argument warrants.

Term: naive realism
Definition: Believing that you see the world as it truly is and that anyone who disagrees with you is delusional or corrupt or otherwise broken in some way.

Term: paradigm
Synonym(s): primary example
Definition: An instance or a story that is offered as all the evidence necessary to make an inductive proof. A full inductive proof requires an exhaustive number of instances each displaying a common trait that makes it possible to reasonably infer that all subsequent instances will posses the trait.

Term: persuasion
Definition: A form of writing where the author's goal is to influence what a person willingly does or believe. The audience's stance is either willing participant or resistant adversary. The primary rhetorical tools are pseduo logic, examples, playing on emotions, and the author's representation of his or her knowledge, good will, and effectiveness (ethos)

Term: propaganda
Synonym(s): fake news
Definition: Any sustained effort to control how people interpret the world of ideas and actions. Propaganda can be verbal or non-verbal (statues, edifices, physical spaces).

Term: provocation
Synonym(s): unwarranted assertion
Definition: A sentence offered as fact when the audience will not accept it as fact and the author knows it.

Term: rebuttal
Definition: A counter argument or the refutation of a counter argument.

Term: stasis
Definition: A specific, direct disagreement which all parties can accept as an essential point to be resolved. The point of disagreement has to be binary: one says yes; the other says no. A discussion that doesn't have a stasis (there may be several dealt with in a specified order), then it can't be a "rational" discussion. We would be talking at cross purposes.

Term: style
Definition: Choices about words, metaphors, structures, sounds and images that give a distinct impression of a person or type of person.

Term: technical writing
Synonym(s): transactional writing
Definition: A form of writing where the author's goal is to show how to do something, the reader's stance is task oriented, and the primary tools are illustrations, procedures, and trouble shooting

Term: warrant
Definition: In the Toulmin model, any statement that supports the validity of the data offered.