How Rhetoric Shapes Your Opinions
Robin Reames breaks down the major techniques of rhetoric, pulling back the curtain on how politicians, journalists, and \u201cjournalists\u201d convince us to believe what we believe\u2014and to talk, vote, and act accordingly.
Understanding these techniques helps us avoid being manipulated by authority figures who don\u2019t have our best interests at heart. It also grants us rare insight into the values that shape our own beliefs.
Reames and Shermer discuss: rhetoric vs. facts (rhetorical truths vs. empirical truths) \u2022 the point of reason (to understand reality or to persuade?) \u2022 Canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery \u2022 bullshitters vs. liars \u2022 induction and deduction \u2022 rhetorical, ideological, and metaphorical thinking \u2022 how to debate contentious issues
Robin Reames is associate professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in rhetorical theory and the history of ideas. Her new book is The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized Times.
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