Chelsea DiValerio

Last week in class we covered a range of topics, from parts of an argument to Aristotle’s appeals.  We read a chapter from Praxis, “Democracy and Education” by Stanley Fish, and “Find the Argument” by Rebecca Jones.  In Praxis, we mainly focused on Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I Have a Dream.”  We also diagrammed how to make an argument using the six parts given to us in the essay.

              “Democracy and Education” allowed us to formulate our arguments in the best way we knew how before reading “Find the Argument.”  We did not get the full story before deciding if we agreed with the author or not.  Once we found out all the details, almost every person in the class changed their opinion to side with him.  “Find the Argument” gave us six steps in creating a persuasive argument.  The six parts include claim, data, warrant, backing, rebuttal, and qualifiers.  I believe the two most important parts of an argument is the rebuttal and the warrant.  A writer needs to show his reasoning behind his facts and information and how they connect to his or her claim.  A writer also needs to be able to look at all perspectives of an argument and take a strong stance on one side. 

              Aristotle’s appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos are seen in most persuasive literature today.  Ethos is an appeal to the writer’s credibility and his/her character.  Logos is an appeal to the audience’s reason, usually based on information and facts.  Pathos is an appeal to the audience’s emotion.  A good writer will utilize all three of these appeals, and that is exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. did in his “I Have a Dream” speech. 

My group particularly focused on pathos, which deals with emotion.  We could not only feel the emotion in MLK’s deliverance of his speech and his mannerisms, but also in his sentences and his diction.  He was trying to convey the emotions of sadness and remembrance of the past, but also hope and encouragement for the future.  “This will be the day that all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning.”  Here, he is not just referencing solely black children, but all of God’s children.  He is showing newfound hope and unity among all children in America.  The new meaning of the song comes from the new attitude of the American people.