{"title":"Rhetorical devices: spot the device","intro":"A glossary of propaganda techniques, informal fallacies, and classical figures, each illustrated from a work in the library, with how to recognize it and how to answer it fairly. Figures of speech are not faults in themselves: Scripture and the great orators use them well. The aim is to see how language is working so that judgment rests on reasons.","devices":[{"slug":"loaded-language","name":"Loaded language","family":"propaganda","definition":"Words chosen for their emotional charge rather than their accuracy, so that the listener judges a thing before examining it.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book III, ch. 82 (the revolution at Corcyra)","quote":"Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any.","note":"Thucydides records how civil war at Corcyra changed the ordinary meaning of words, so that the vocabulary of praise and blame was captured by faction."},"spot":"Ask whether a neutral word could describe the same thing. If swapping in the plain word removes the force of the claim, the force came from the word.","answer":"Restate the claim in plain terms and ask for the evidence behind it, without returning the charged vocabulary."},{"slug":"euphemism","name":"Euphemism","family":"propaganda","definition":"A mild or pleasant name for something harsh, used to make it easier to accept or to avoid looking at it directly.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book III, ch. 82","note":"The same Corcyra passage shows the reverse move as well: treachery and violence were given the names of loyalty and courage, so that party crimes sounded like civic virtues."},"spot":"Notice soft, abstract, or technical words standing where a concrete action should be named. Ask: what exactly happens, to whom?","answer":"Describe the act concretely and charitably, then let the listener judge the plain description."},{"slug":"bandwagon","name":"Bandwagon","family":"propaganda","definition":"The claim that something is true or right because many people already believe or do it.","example":{"work":"twelve-angry-men","locator":"Opening vote in the jury room","note":"Eleven jurors vote guilty at once and press the one holdout to fall in line; the play turns on his insistence that the evidence, not the count of votes, must decide."},"spot":"Look for appeals to numbers, momentum, or popularity (\"everyone knows\", \"the whole town agrees\") offered in place of reasons.","answer":"Grant that numbers are worth noticing, then ask what reasons persuaded the many; the question is settled by those reasons."},{"slug":"appeal-to-fear","name":"Appeal to fear","family":"propaganda","definition":"Moving an audience by presenting a threat, real or exaggerated, so that fear does the work of argument.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book V, chs. 84-116 (the Melian Dialogue)","quote":"the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must","note":"The Athenian envoys set aside questions of right and press the Melians with the certainty of their own superior force."},"spot":"Ask whether the danger is real, how likely it is, and whether the proposed action actually answers it. Real dangers can be argued from honestly; fear is a problem only when it replaces the argument.","answer":"Acknowledge the danger fairly, then weigh it in proportion and examine whether the remedy follows."},{"slug":"card-stacking","name":"Card stacking","family":"propaganda","definition":"Presenting only the evidence that favors one side while omitting what would complicate it.","example":{"work":"gullivers-travels","locator":"Part II, ch. 6-7 (Brobdingnag)","note":"Gulliver gives the King of Brobdingnag a glowing account of English institutions; the King, by close questioning, draws out what the account left out, and reaches a very different conclusion."},"spot":"Ask what a well-informed opponent would add. A case with no costs, exceptions, or counter-examples is usually a selected one.","answer":"Supply the missing evidence calmly, as the King does, by asking questions rather than making accusations."},{"slug":"glittering-generalities","name":"Glittering generalities","family":"propaganda","definition":"Attaching a cause to broad, admired words (freedom, honor, greatness, the people) without saying concretely what they mean in this case.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book II, chs. 35-46 (Funeral Oration of Pericles)","quote":"as a city we are the school of Hellas","note":"Pericles’ Funeral Oration is a masterpiece of the encomium, praising Athens in large terms; it is a model of ceremonial speech, and a good place to ask how general praise is joined to particular claims."},"spot":"Underline the abstract nouns and ask what each one requires in practice here. Fine words are not a fault; the question is whether they are filled with specifics.","answer":"Accept the shared ideal and ask how this proposal serves it, with particulars."},{"slug":"transfer","name":"Transfer","family":"propaganda","definition":"Borrowing the prestige of something revered (religion, country, a hero, a symbol) and attaching it to a person or cause.","example":{"work":"the-prince","locator":"Ch. XVIII","quote":"to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite","note":"Machiavelli advises the prince to borrow the reputation of the virtues, because, as he says in the same chapter, men judge more by the eye than by the hand."},"spot":"Ask whether the revered thing actually supports the claim, or is only standing near it.","answer":"Honor the symbol and separate it from the claim: does the case stand on its own reasons?"},{"slug":"testimonial","name":"Testimonial","family":"propaganda","definition":"Supporting a claim by the word of a respected or famous person. Testimony is a real kind of evidence when the witness is competent in the matter.","example":{"work":"the-last-days-of-socrates","locator":"Apology 20e-21a","note":"Socrates calls the god at Delphi as witness, through his friend Chaerephon’s question to the oracle, and then tests the oracle’s saying by questioning the reputedly wise: a testimonial treated as a starting point for inquiry."},"spot":"Ask whether the witness knows this subject, whether he has an interest, and whether other competent witnesses agree.","answer":"Respect the witness and ask what he actually knows and how; then weigh the testimony with the other evidence."},{"slug":"plain-folks","name":"Plain folks","family":"propaganda","definition":"Presenting oneself as an ordinary, sensible person speaking plainly, to win trust by identification rather than argument.","example":{"work":"common-sense-rights-of-man-and-other-writings","locator":"Common Sense, Introduction to section III","quote":"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense","note":"Paine’s plain style was highly effective with a broad readership in the American provinces of 1776; his title itself makes the appeal."},"spot":"Notice claims to be \"just ordinary\", \"no fancy talk\", \"common sense\". Then check whether the plain arguments are in fact supplied.","answer":"Welcome the plain style and examine the arguments it carries on their merits."},{"slug":"name-calling","name":"Name-calling","family":"propaganda","definition":"Attaching an insulting label to a person or idea so that it is rejected without examination.","example":{"work":"macbeth","locator":"Act I, scene 7","quote":"When you durst do it, then you were a man","note":"Lady Macbeth overcomes her husband’s scruples by taunting his manhood, turning the question from whether the deed is right to whether he is a coward."},"spot":"When a label replaces a reason, ask what the label is supposed to prove.","answer":"Set the label aside without returning it, and bring the discussion back to the question itself, as Macbeth briefly does with \"I dare do all that may become a man.\""},{"slug":"false-dilemma","name":"False dilemma","aka":"either/or","family":"fallacy","definition":"Presenting two options as the only ones when others exist.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book V, chs. 94-95 (Melian Dialogue)","note":"The Melians propose neutrality, being friends to both sides; the Athenians refuse it and insist the only choices are submission or destruction."},"spot":"Ask whether there are third options, middle positions, or delays the speaker has left out.","answer":"Name the further option and ask why it is excluded; sometimes there are good reasons, and they should be stated."},{"slug":"repetition","name":"Repetition","family":"propaganda","definition":"Saying a phrase again and again until it feels familiar and therefore true.","example":{"work":"plutarch-lives","locator":"Life of Marcus Cato","quote":"Also, Carthage, methinks, ought utterly to be destroyed","note":"Plutarch reports that Cato ended every speech in the Senate, whatever the subject, with this sentence."},"spot":"Notice slogans that return regardless of topic. Familiarity is not evidence.","answer":"Ask for the argument behind the slogan once, in full, and answer that."},{"slug":"scapegoating","name":"Scapegoating","family":"propaganda","definition":"Blaming a group or person for troubles they did not cause, uniting an audience against a common target.","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Esther 3:8 (KJV)","quote":"There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws","note":"Haman accuses the whole Jewish people before Ahasuerus, building his case on vague difference and a general charge of disloyalty; the book of Esther records how the accusation was overturned."},"spot":"Watch for a whole group charged with a general fault, with no particular acts or evidence named.","answer":"Ask for specific acts by specific people; justice judges deeds, not belonging."},{"slug":"ad-hominem","name":"Ad hominem / poisoning the well","family":"fallacy","definition":"Attacking the motives or character of a speaker instead of the argument, or discrediting him in advance.","example":{"work":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","locator":"Book III, chs. 37-40 (Mytilenian Debate)","note":"Cleon warns the assembly that anyone who argues for mercy must be either showing off his cleverness or bribed; Diodotus answers that such suspicion makes honest counsel impossible."},"spot":"Ask whether the remark about the person would still matter if the argument were true.","answer":"Like Diodotus, decline to trade suspicions and return to the question of what is best to do."},{"slug":"straw-man","name":"Straw man","family":"fallacy","definition":"Refuting a weaker or distorted version of an opponent’s position instead of the one he holds.","example":{"work":"the-last-days-of-socrates","locator":"Apology 18a-19d","note":"Socrates says his older accusers spread a caricature of a man who speculates about the heavens and makes the weaker argument stronger, as in the comedy of Aristophanes, and distinguishes it from what he actually does."},"spot":"Compare the version being attacked with what the other side actually says, in their own words.","answer":"State the opponent’s view in a form he would accept before answering it."},{"slug":"appeal-to-pity","name":"Appeal to pity","family":"fallacy","definition":"Seeking a verdict by moving the audience to sympathy instead of showing that the case is just.","example":{"work":"the-last-days-of-socrates","locator":"Apology 34c-35d","note":"Socrates notes that defendants often bring weeping children before the jury, and refuses to do so, holding that the judge is sworn to decide by law and not to grant favors."},"spot":"Ask whether the sympathy offered bears on the question being decided.","answer":"Feel the compassion honestly and keep the question distinct: what does justice require here?"},{"slug":"slippery-slope","name":"Slippery slope","family":"fallacy","definition":"Claiming that a first step will lead by a chain of consequences to a bad end, without showing that each link is likely.","example":{"work":"the-anti-federalist-papers","locator":"Brutus, essays I-VI","note":"Brutus argues that the broad powers of the proposed government would extend step by step until the states were absorbed; the Federalist answers each link. Reading both is an exercise in judging which steps are probable."},"spot":"List each link in the chain and ask how likely it is. Some slopes are real; the argument must show the slope.","answer":"Grant the links that are probable and ask for evidence on the weak ones."},{"slug":"anaphora","name":"Anaphora","family":"classical figure","definition":"Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, giving a passage rhythm and weight.","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Matthew 5:3-11 (KJV)","quote":"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven","note":"The Beatitudes open nine sentences with \"Blessed are\", binding them into one teaching."},"spot":"Listen for the same opening repeated. It is a figure of emphasis; ask what it is emphasizing.","answer":"Appreciate the cadence, then test each repeated claim on its own."},{"slug":"antithesis","name":"Antithesis","family":"classical figure","definition":"Setting contrasting ideas side by side in parallel form.","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Ecclesiastes 3:2 (KJV)","quote":"A time to be born, and a time to die","note":"The Preacher’s catalogue of times sets each activity against its opposite."},"spot":"Look for balanced pairs of opposites. Ask whether the contrast is real or forced.","answer":"Where the contrast is too neat, point out the middle cases it leaves out."},{"slug":"chiasmus","name":"Chiasmus","family":"classical figure","definition":"A reversal of the order of terms in two parallel phrases (A-B, B-A).","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Mark 2:27 (KJV)","quote":"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath","note":"Christ’s reversal turns a dispute about rules into a statement of their purpose."},"spot":"Look for crossed repetition of the same words. It often marks the point the speaker most wants remembered.","answer":"Read it slowly and state the claim in plain prose to be sure you agree with it."},{"slug":"litotes","name":"Litotes","family":"classical figure","definition":"Understatement by denying the opposite (\"not bad\" for \"good\").","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Acts 21:39 (KJV)","quote":"a citizen of no mean city","note":"Paul describes Tarsus, a great city, with modest understatement before the Roman tribune."},"spot":"Watch for \"not un-\", \"no small\", \"no mean\". Ask what positive claim is being made modestly.","answer":"Translate it into the plain positive claim and judge that."},{"slug":"apophasis","name":"Apophasis","aka":"paralipsis","family":"classical figure","definition":"Mentioning something by saying one will not mention it.","example":{"work":"the-bible","locator":"Philemon 19 (KJV)","quote":"albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides","note":"Paul, pleading for Onesimus, gently reminds Philemon of his debt while saying he will not."},"spot":"Listen for \"I won’t mention...\", \"not to speak of...\", \"I need hardly say...\". The thing is being said.","answer":"Treat the passed-over point as a real claim and ask for its support."},{"slug":"rhetorical-question","name":"Rhetorical question","family":"classical figure","definition":"A question asked for effect, whose answer the speaker assumes the audience will supply.","example":{"work":"narrative-and-fourth-of-july","locator":"What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852)","quote":"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?","note":"Douglass builds the address around this question and then answers it with full force."},"spot":"Ask what answer the question assumes and whether that answer has been shown.","answer":"Answer the question actually, in your own words; the answer the speaker expects may be right, but it should be stated and defended."},{"slug":"tricolon","name":"Tricolon","family":"classical figure","definition":"A series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses, often building in force.","example":{"work":"plutarch-lives","locator":"Life of Caesar","quote":"I came, saw, and conquered","note":"Plutarch notes that Caesar reported his swift victory at Zela in three words with the same cadence in Latin."},"spot":"Count the parts of a memorable phrase. Threes feel complete; ask whether the third item is really earned.","answer":"Separate the three claims and test each."},{"slug":"irony","name":"Irony (sustained)","family":"classical figure","definition":"Saying the opposite of what is meant, sometimes through a whole persona, so the reader must see through the speaker.","example":{"work":"a-modest-proposal","locator":"Paragraph 9","quote":"a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food","note":"Swift’s projector proposes, in the calm voice of economic calculation, that the poor sell their children as food, exposing the coldness of reasoning about people as figures."},"spot":"Look for a calm tone attached to an outrageous proposal, or praise that cannot be meant.","answer":"Identify what the author actually means before agreeing or disagreeing; answering the literal sense misses the argument."},{"slug":"hyperbole","name":"Hyperbole","family":"classical figure","definition":"Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis.","example":{"work":"gullivers-travels","locator":"Part II, ch. 6","quote":"the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth","note":"The King of Brobdingnag sums up his verdict on Gulliver’s countrymen in deliberately enormous terms."},"spot":"Ask what the literal, measured version of the claim would be.","answer":"Grant the point the exaggeration is making and qualify the excess."},{"slug":"appeal-to-appearances","name":"Appeal to appearances","family":"propaganda","definition":"Managing how things look rather than what they are, because the audience sees the surface more readily than the substance.","example":{"work":"the-prince","locator":"Ch. XVIII","quote":"men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand","note":"Machiavelli’s observation explains why image can outrun reality in public life."},"spot":"Ask what you have actually seen of the person’s deeds, as opposed to his presentation.","answer":"Look to the record of acts over time."}],"quiz":[{"prompt":"\"Everyone in our class has already signed up. You don’t want to be the only one left out, do you?\"","answer":"bandwagon","options":["bandwagon","litotes","chiasmus","transfer"],"explanation":"The appeal is to the number of people already joined, plus a rhetorical question that assumes the answer."},{"prompt":"\"Ask not what your team can do for you; ask what you can do for your team.\"","answer":"chiasmus","options":["chiasmus","anaphora","false-dilemma","testimonial"],"explanation":"The terms \"you\" and \"team\" are reversed in parallel clauses: A-B, B-A."},{"prompt":"\"Either we cancel the trip entirely or we let everyone go without supervision.\"","answer":"false-dilemma","options":["false-dilemma","slippery-slope","euphemism","hyperbole"],"explanation":"Other options (a smaller trip, more chaperones) are left out."},{"prompt":"\"I won’t mention that my opponent missed half the practices this season.\"","answer":"apophasis","options":["apophasis","irony","plain-folks","tricolon"],"explanation":"The speaker mentions the fact by saying he will not mention it."},{"prompt":"\"My rival’s plan is just what you’d expect from someone so lazy.\"","answer":"ad-hominem","options":["ad-hominem","straw-man","card-stacking","antithesis"],"explanation":"The character of the person is attacked in place of the plan."},{"prompt":"\"I’m just a regular student like you. I don’t use big words; I just say what makes sense.\"","answer":"plain-folks","options":["plain-folks","testimonial","glittering-generalities","litotes"],"explanation":"The speaker wins trust by presenting himself as ordinary."},{"prompt":"\"If we let students choose one elective, soon they’ll choose all their classes, and then there will be no curriculum at all.\"","answer":"slippery-slope","options":["slippery-slope","bandwagon","apophasis","chiasmus"],"explanation":"A chain of consequences is asserted without showing each step is likely."},{"prompt":"\"Our candidate stands for freedom, greatness, and the future.\"","answer":"glittering-generalities","options":["glittering-generalities","name-calling","euphemism","straw-man"],"explanation":"Admired abstract words are attached to the candidate without specifics."},{"prompt":"\"The new schedule is not without its problems.\"","answer":"litotes","options":["litotes","hyperbole","anaphora","scapegoating"],"explanation":"Understatement by denying the opposite: it has problems."},{"prompt":"\"We came, we practiced, we won.\"","answer":"tricolon","options":["tricolon","chiasmus","false-dilemma","transfer"],"explanation":"Three parallel clauses building to the climax."},{"prompt":"\"The cafeteria is a mess because of those freshmen.\"","answer":"scapegoating","options":["scapegoating","repetition","testimonial","litotes"],"explanation":"A whole group is blamed without specific acts or evidence."},{"prompt":"\"The coach has worked with Olympic athletes, so his opinion on the school budget must be right.\"","answer":"testimonial","options":["testimonial","bandwagon","irony","antithesis"],"explanation":"The witness is respected, but not competent in the matter at hand."},{"prompt":"\"My opponent wants to abolish all homework forever.\" (He had proposed one homework-free weekend.)","answer":"straw-man","options":["straw-man","ad-hominem","apophasis","plain-folks"],"explanation":"A distorted, weaker version of the proposal is attacked."},{"prompt":"\"We will practice in the morning, we will practice at noon, we will practice at night.\"","answer":"anaphora","options":["anaphora","chiasmus","litotes","appeal-to-pity"],"explanation":"The same opening, \"we will practice\", begins successive clauses."}]}