Response to Chp. 4 "Soften Them Up"

I found the chapter “Soften Them Up” to be incredibly interesting and definitely useful. I loved that even though the author was talking about pretty adult, complicated ideas, he used the example of an argument with his seven-year-old son to prove his points. I enjoyed it, and liked his theory that arguing by pathos, logos, and ethos are instinctual and not something that scholars can do through years of study. He also illustrated with this example how these strategies can be used in an every day situation, how they can be useful in more than just a debate setting.

Argument by logic, logos, of course made the most sense to me. I’ve been out-logiced many times by my boyfriend and understand very well the value of knowing how your opponent is thinking in order to win the argument. And I know very well what it is to end up doing exactly the opposite of what I intended to argue against, and still hold no hard feelings. I have to respect those who have mastered logos.

Arguing with character, ethos, also seems very useful to me. Getting people to trust me feels like something I do by instinct rather than by conscious thought. In an argument, especially one that is based mostly on opinion, appearing and being trustworthy is very important. People won’t even listen if they believe your scamming or lying to them.

I think the argument tactic I use mostly would have to be argument by emotion, or pathos. I hate to think that I’m manipulative, but I’ve definitely used my emotion or empathy of another’s emotion to achieve my ends. I think being an actor has drawn this tactic forward in my repertoire of argument strategies. When you act you need emote your character’s feelings very clearly, but you also need to feed off the audience’s emotions. Their mood is definitely one of the key things that make performances what they are. Also, I’ve changed my acting slightly according to how the audience is feeling. For example, though I was projecting my voice very fully, when it came to a serious scene and I could tell the audience was dead silent, I toned it down to meet their needs and draw them in closer to the story of the scene. I think this strategy has melted over to how I behave when I’m arguing or even just talking to someone.

After reading this chapter I realize that I argue more with pathos rather than anything else, and it would be extremely useful to work up all aspects of my argumentative strategy, both in the academic world and my personal life.