Rhetoric, part 1: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd explore the difference between rhetoric and dialectic. They invoke Plato, Aristotle, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore.
Dave thanks Michael, Tim, Emma, and Clint for their support through their PayPal donations to the show. (See the button on the right-hand navigation column of our web page.) (2:00)
Rhetoric, dialectic, syllogism and enthymeme defined and illustrated. Howard’s major source is Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student
Music bumper from “Road to Rhodes” by Scott Helm. (10:44)
Modes of persuasion in contemporary discourse: Limbaugh/Moore vs. Obama/Huckabee (11:26)
Song: “Liar” by Shoestring Strap (19:15)
Rude word of the week: bullshit artist (22:34)
Music bumper from “Telepop” by The Jerrys. (27:09)
Anticipation of part 2: figures of speech and rhetorical techniques (27:56)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network
Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 35:07
size: 36.8 Mb
rating: PG-13 (Our Rude Word would probably get you sent to the principal’s office in a U.S. middle school.)
Looking forward to this one!
Thank you very much for this new episode, it makes my english hearing in a good shape ..
I really enjoyed this episode — so much that I bought “Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student” I have been reading it and working my way through the syllogisms, and am up to the point of the book where they analyze Rachel Carson’s “The Obligation to Endure” It’s fascinating. I had always thought that rhetoric would be boring but given the current political back-and-forth, I can analyze the points that the politicians are making better and see where the logic makes jumps or encourages the listener to draw conclusions that he/she can plausibly deny later. Thanks for the pointer!
Brad