The "Virtues" of Rhetoric

It seems that the number three, is Aristotle’s favorite number. In Chapter 6 of the book Thank You for Arguing, by Jay Heinrichs we focused in one of the "Big Three", ethos. According to Aristotle ethos has three essential qualities: virtue, practical wisdom, and selfness or disinterest. In this chapter, Heinrichs focused mainly in virtue, and defined it. Virtue: "the audience believes you share their values" (56).

Virtue can be considered moral excellence, but it could also just an admirable quality. According to Heinrichs their are four different ways or tools of virtue:

• Brag
• Get a witness to brag for you
• Reveal a tactical flaw
• Switch sides when the powers that be do

Let's start by analyzing how bragging works towards your advantage in an argument. According to Heinrichs it is "the easiest way to show how great you are" (62), I have to agree with this opinion. Bragging is an easy thing to do, after all what can be easier that telling someone all your good qualities. I realized how much of bragging goes on in debates. For example we can see how the presidential candidates use this, they talk about all their accomplishment so the American citizens can see what positives things they've done for the country, and what they'll be able to do in the future once they get elected. Romney used this when he talked about all the positives things, and how he improved the education in Massachusetts. As for Obama he bragged of his accomplishment in his term  as president, so the American people can see how good it would be to have him for a second term. So people can see your "virtues,"you can also get someone else to brag for you. This is a useful, and if you think about it, it can be more useful than bragging yourself. Why? Well when you brag about yourself people might get the impression that you are very self-centered. 

Reveal a tactical flaw = getting the audience's sympathy. When you either reveal a weakness or show how much you have sacrifice it "shows your dedication to the audience's values" (63). Although this one ethos branches, you are at the same time using pathos. In the book they gave a good example of how Washington, the father of the USA, used this tactic.

Washington: "Forgive me, gentlemen, for my eyes have grown dim in the service of my country" (63).

The audience see how good of a person he is, and how much he cares about their country, therefore using ethos. Washington as the speaker is using ethos because he is referring to him as a person, but the pathos comes with the audience's reaction. Last but not least we can change our position through an argument. This is how Heinrichs says you should use this tactic: "When an argument is doomed to go against you, heartily support the other side" (64). I must go again with my presidential examples, and talk about how Romney and Obama supported each others opinion as the debate progressed. In the episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart right after the debate, he gave a perfect example of how they relied in each others opinions and supported them. If done right, this could be a very useful technique.

To all my readers, just wait a week so you can see what practical wisdom is all about.