Note: There was a problem with how this week’s episode appeared in iTunes which I expect to be cleared up Monday night. In the meantime, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the podcast link below.
this week’s episode This week, we take a close look at one of the first major speeches of the campaign: Mitt Romney’s acceptance of the Republican nomination, through the lens of Arrangement – how an argument is organized.
Arrangement is one of the Five Canons or Rhetoric which (along with Invention, Memory, Style and Delivery) makes up what classical thinkers felt was the essence of the key critical thinking subject of argumentation. Many of the things we have been discussing during this critical thinking podcast fall into one or more of these categories/canons, which is why we’ll be focusing just on Arrangement as a way to break down a political argument into specific components, including an Introduction, Statement of Facts, Division, Logical Proof, Refutation and – everyone’s favorite – the Peroration (that emotional climax meant to drive an audience to its feet to cheer the hero and follow him or her into battle).
We take a couple detours this podcast to (1) clear up a misperception I might have created regarding the value of Aristotle’s syllogism to understand real-world arguments; and (2) take a look at heroes and villains, sidekicks and romantic interests, as we look at political persuasion through the lens of the Hollywood blockbuster movie.
This week’s resources include:
Critical Voter – Arrangement – Quiz
Critical Voter – Arrangement – Lesson Plan
Note: One of the assignments in this week’s lesson plan involves reviewing the following videos:
Romney RNC Convention biography video
Obama DNC Convention biography video
Background on the Canons of Rhetoric
Doing Fine – A negative ad dissected during this week’s podcast
Obama Press Conference – The origin of the quote used in the Doing Fine negative ad
The post Critical Voter – Podcast 6 – Arrangement appeared first on Critical Voter.