批判性思维 (6).pdf

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1、146 When the military uses the phrase“self-injurious behavior incidents”regarding detainees at Guant-namo Bay,it means what most of us call“attempted suicides.”In fact,when the word“detainees”is used,it means what most of us call“prisoners.”“Waterboarding”sounds at fi rst like something you d expect

2、 to see young people doing on a California beach,not a torture technique that involves forced simulated drowning.Less remarkable,perhaps,but possibly more relevant for most of us,we ve heard the term“downsized”used when someone is fi red or laid off.“Ethnic cleansing”covers everything from deporta-t

3、ion to genocide.What we have to say may be important,but the words we choose to say it with can be equally important.The examples just given are cases of a certain type of linguis-tic coercionan attempt to get us to adopt a particular atti-tude toward a subject that,if described differently,would se

4、em less attractive to us.Words have tremendous persua-sive power,or what we have called their rhetorical force or emotive meaning their power to express and elicit images,feelings,and emotional associations.In the next few chap-ters,we examine some of the most common rhetorical techniques used to af

5、fect people s attitudes,opinions,and behavior.Students will learn to.1.Define the difference between rhetoric and argument2.Detect rhetorical devices and their persuasive impact 3.Recognize prejudicial and nonprej-udicial uses of rhetorical devices4.Identify and critique the use of euphemisms,dysphe

6、misms,weaslers,and downplayers5.Identify and critique the use of stereotypes,innuendo,and loaded questions6.Identify and critique the use of ridicule,sarcasm,and hyperbole7.Identify and critique the use of rhetorical definitions,explana-tions,analogies,and misleading comparisons8.Identify and critiq

7、ue the use of proof surrogates and repetition 9.Identify and critique the persuasive aspects of visual images Persuasion Through Rhetoric Common Devices and Techniques 5 moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 146moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 14612/9/10 2:54 PM12/9/10 2:54 PM RHETORICAL DEVICES I147Rhetoric refers

8、to the study of persuasive writing.As we use the term,it denotes a broad category of linguistic techniques people use when their pri-mary objective is to infl uence beliefs and attitudes and behavior.Is Hezbollah,the Shia paramilitary organization based in Lebanon,a resistance movement of freedom fi

9、 ghters or a dangerous terrorist organization?The different impres-sions these two descriptions create is largely due to their differing rhetori-cal meaning.Does Juanita“still owe over$1,000 on her credit card”?Or does Juanita“owe only a little over$1,000 on her credit card”?There s no factual diffe

10、rence between the two questionsonly a difference in their rhetorical force.The thing to remember through these next few chapters is that rhetorical force may be psycho-logically effective,but by itself it establishes nothing.If we allow our attitudes and beliefs to be affected by sheer rhetoric,we f

11、all short as critical thinkers.Now,before we get in trouble with your English teacher,let s make it clear that there is nothing wrong with trying to make your case as persuasive as possible by using well-chosen,rhetorically effective words and phrases.Good writers always do this.But we,as critical t

12、hinkers,must be able to distinguish the argument (if any)contained in what someone says or writes from the rheto-ric;we must be able to distinguish the logical force of a set of remarks from their psychological force.One of the things you will become aware ofas you read these pages,do the exercises,

13、apply what you have learned to what you read and writeis that rheto-ric is often mixed right in with argument.The message isn t that you should deduct points from an argument if it is presented in rhetorically charged language,and it isn t that you should try to take all the rhetoric out of your own

14、 writing.The message is simply that you shouldn t add points for rhetoric.You don t make an argument stronger by screaming it at the top of your lungs.Likewise,you don t make it stronger by adding rhetorical devices.Many of these rhetorical bells and whistles have names because they are so common an

15、d so well understood.Because they are used primarily to give a statement a positive or negative slant regarding a subject,they are sometimes called slanters.We ll describe some of the more widely used specimens.RHETORICAL DEVICES IOur fi rst group of slanters consists of what are usually single word

16、s or short phrases designed to accomplish one of four specifi c rhetorical tasks.Euphemisms and Dysphemisms Language usually offers us a choice of words when we want to say something.Until recently,the term“used car”referred to an automobile that wasn t new,but the trend nowadays is to refer to such

17、 a car as“pre-owned.”The people who sell such cars,of course,hope that the different terminology will keep Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful.and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.G EORGE O RWELL Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.Q UENT

18、IN C RISP,Manners from Heaven Such images as this add to the negative impact of the“death tax,”described in the box on the next page.moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 147moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 14712/9/10 2:54 PM12/9/10 2:54 PM148 CHAPTER 5:PERSUASION THROUGH RHETORICpotential buyers from thinking about

19、 how “used”the car might bemaybe it s used up!The car dealer s replacement term,“pre-owned,”is a euphemism a neutral or positive expression instead of one that carries negative associations.Euphemisms play an important role in affecting our attitudes.People may be less likely to disapprove of an ass

20、assination attempt on a foreign leader,for example,if it is referred to as“neutralization.”People fi ghting against the government of a country can be referred to neutrally as“rebels”or“guerril-las,”but a person who wants to build support for them may refer to them by the euphemism“freedom fi ghters

21、.”A government is likely to pay a price for initiating a“revenue enhancement,”but voters will be even quicker to respond negatively to a“tax hike.”The U.S.Department of Defense performs the same function it did when it was called the Department of War,but the current name makes for much better publi

22、c relations.The opposite of a euphemism is a dysphemism.Dysphemisms are used to produce a negative effect on a listener s or reader s attitude toward some-thing or to tone down the positive associations it may have.Whereas“freedom fi ghter”is a euphemism for“guerrilla”or“rebel,”“terrorist”is a dysph

23、emism.Euphemisms and dysphemisms are often used in deceptive ways or ways that at least hint at deception.All the examples in the preceding paragraphs are examples of such uses.But euphemisms can at times be helpful and construc-tive.By allowing us to approach a sensitive subject indirectlyor by ski

24、rting it entirelyeuphemisms can sometimes prevent hostility from bringing ratio-nal discussion to a halt.They can also be a matter of good manners:“Passed on”may be much more appropriate than“dead”if the person to whom you re speaking is recently widowed.Hence,our purpose for using euphemisms and dy

25、sphemisms determines whether or not those uses are legitimate.It bears mentioning that some facts just are repellent,and for that reason even neutral reports of them sound horrible.“Lizzie killed her father with an ax”reports a horrible fact about Lizzie,but it does so using neutral language.Neutral

26、 reports of unpleasant,evil,or repellent facts do not automatically count as dysphemistic rhetoric.“Wardrobe malfunction”Justin Timberlakes phrase for his tearing of Janet Jacksons costume during the half-time performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII.Real LifeThe Death TaxHere is Grover Norquist,who is the

27、 head of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington,D.C.,in a press release from that organization:Over seventy percent of Americans oppose the Death Tax,and with good reason.It is the worst form of double-taxation,where,after taxing you all your life,the government decides to take even more when you di

28、e.“Death Tax”is a dysphemism,of course.The estate tax is a tax not on death but on inherited wealth,imposed on the occasion of a persons death.And the person paying the tax is not the deceased,but the inheritors,who have never paid tax on the money.moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 148moo38286_ch05_146-183

29、.indd 14812/9/10 2:54 PM12/9/10 2:54 PM RHETORICAL DEVICES I149 Weaselers Weaselers are linguistic methods of hedging a bet.When inserted into a claim,they help protect it from criticism by watering it down somewhat,weakening it,and giving the claim s author a way out in case the claim is challenged

30、.So,what a claim asserts,a weaseler either minimizes or takes away entirely.Without doubt you ve heard the words“up to”used as a weaseler a thou-sand times,especially in advertising.“Up to fi ve more miles per gallon.”“Up to twenty more yards off the tee.”“Lose up to ten pounds a week.”None of these

31、 guarantee anything.Sure,you might lose ten pounds,but you might lose nothing.The statement still stands,thanks to “up to.”Let s make up a statistic.Let s say that 98 percent of American doctors believe that aspirin is a contributing cause of Reye s syndrome in children,and that the other 2 percent

32、are unconvinced.If we then claim that“some doc-tors are unconvinced that aspirin is related to Reye s syndrome,”we cannot be held accountable for having said something false,even though our claim might be misleading to someone who did not know the complete story.The word“some”has allowed us to wease

33、l the point.Words that sometimes weaselsuch as“perhaps,”“possibly,”“maybe,”and“may be,”among otherscan be used to produce innuendo,to plant a suggestion without actually making a claim that a person can be held to.We can suggest that Berriault is a liar without actually saying so(and thus without ma

34、king a claim that might be hard to defend)by saying that Berriault may bea liar.Or we can say it is possible that Berriault is a liar(which is true of all of us,after all).“Perhaps Berriault is a liar”works nicely,too.All of these are examples of weaselers used to create innuendo(to be explained bel

35、ow).Not every use of words and phrases like these is a weaseling one,of course.Words that can weasel can also bring very important qualifi cations to bear on a claim.The very same word that weasels in one context may not weasel at all in another.For example,a detective who is considering all the Gre

36、at Western pays up to 12 percent more interest on checking accounts.Radio advertisement Even aside from the“up to”weaseler,this ad can be deceptive about what interest rate its promising.Unless you listen carefully,you might think Great Western is pay-ing 12 percent on checking accounts.The presence

37、 of the word“more”changes all that,of course.If youre getting 3 percent now,and Great Western gives you“up to 12 percent more”than that,theyll be giving you about 313 percenthardly the fortune the ad seems to promise.In the MediaInnuendo with StatisticsTaxpayers with incomes over$200,000 could expec

38、t on average to pay about$99,000 in taxes under the proposed plan.Wall Street JournalWow!Pity the poor taxpayer who makes over$200,000!Apparently,he or she will pay almost half of that amount in taxes.But think again:In the words of the New Republic(February 3,2003),“The Journals sta-tistic is about

39、 as meaningful as asserting that males over the age of six have had an average of three sexual partners.”Bill Gates and many billionaires like him are among those who make over$200,000.moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 149moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 14912/9/10 2:54 PM12/9/10 2:54 PM150 CHAPTER 5:PERSUASION

40、THROUGH RHETORIC possible angles on a crime and who has just heard Smith s account of events may say to an associate,“Of course,it is possible that Smith is lying.”This need not be a case of weaseling.The detective may simply be exercising due care.Other words and phrases that are sometimes used to

41、weasel can also be used legitimately.Qualifying phrases such as“it is arguable that,”“it may well be that,”and so on have at least as many appropriate uses as weasel-ing ones.Others,such as“some would say that,”are likely to be weaseling more often than not,but even they can serve an honest purpose

42、in the right context.Our warning,then,is to be watchful when qualifying phrases turn up.Is the speaker or writer adding a reasonable qualifi cation,insinuating a bit of innuendo,or preparing a way out?We can only warn;you need to assess the speaker,the context,and the subject to establish the ground

43、s for the right judgment.Downplayers Downplaying is an attempt to make someone or something look less impor-tant or less signifi cant.Stereotypes,rhetorical comparisons,rhetorical explanations,and innuendo(all discussed later)can all be used to downplay something.Consider this statement,for example:

44、“Don t mind what Mr.Pierce says in class;he s a liberal.”This attempt to downplay Mr.Pierce and whatever views he expresses in class makes use of a stereotype.We can also downplay by careful insertion of certain words or other devices.Let s amend the preceding example like this:“Don t mind what Mr.P

45、ierce says in class;he s just another liberal.”Notice how the phrase“just another”denigrates Mr.Pierce s status still further.Words and other devices that serve this func-tion are known as downplayers.Perhaps the words most often used as downplayers are“mere”and“merely.”If Kim tells you that she has

46、 a yellow belt in the Tibetan martial art of Pujo and that her sister has a mere green belt,you would quite natu-rally make the assumption that a yellow belt ranks higher than a green belt.We d probably say that Kim s use of the word“mere”gives you the right to make that assumption.Kim has used the

47、word to downplay the signifi cance of her sister s accomplishment.But notice this:It could still be that Kim s sister s belt signifi es the higher rank.If called on the matter,Kim might claim that she said“mere”simply because her sister has been practicing the art for much longer and is,after all,no

48、t that far ahead.Whether Kim has such an out or not,she has used a downplayer to try to diminish her sister s accomplishment.The term“so-called”is another standard downplayer.We might say,for example,that the woman who made the diagnosis is a“so-called doctor,”which downplays her credentials as a ph

49、ysician.Quotation marks can be used to accomplish the same thing:She got her“degree”from a correspondence school.Use of quotation marks as a downplayer is somewhat different from their use to indicate irony,as in this remark:John“borrowed”Hank s umbrella,and Hank hasn t seen it since.moo38286_ch05_1

50、46-183.indd 150moo38286_ch05_146-183.indd 15012/9/10 2:54 PM12/9/10 2:54 PM RHETORICAL DEVICES I 151The idea in the latter example isn t to downplay John s borrowing the umbrella;it s to indicate that it wasn t really a case of borrowing at all.But the use of quotation marks around the word“degree”a