Applied Aristotle

So how do you use Aristotle to invent an argument? Aristotle offers a lexicon and if you lay out the key terms, design insightful questions under each relevant term, and then answer those questions, you have a kind of meta outline. Here's one such template:

1. Genre
   1. Forensic

      -- are you talking about the past?
   2. Epideictic

      -- are you promoting existing values?
   3. Deliberative

      -- are you trying to help someone make a decision?
2. Ethos

   -- how much do you need them to trust you and what moves can you make to gain or increase that trust (good sense, good will, practical virtue)
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3. Pathos

   -- does their current emotional state matter, what is it, can you move them, should you?
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4. Logos

   -- what's your data? What is missing from your data? What are the shared facts and the necessary inferences? What is disputed? Which disputes must be resolved, in what order, by what means?

   1. Which of the 28 topics are relevant?

   
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5. Kairos

   -- when are you presenting and what impact does that have on their mood, what are their goals and how keenly are they feeling them? Time of day, month, year, economic cycle matter.
6. Context and method of delivery and reception

   (might not be the same) -- format(s), space(s)
7. Appropriateness or fit with the occasion

   -- Everything from the arguments to the metaphors needs to fit the subject, your role, their role, the setting, the timing, your audiences expectations