BBC: Rhetoric: How persuasive are you?

'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!' Do you know where these famous words are from, Sam?

I think that's a speech by Marc Antony in William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar.

Wow, I'm impressed! Caesar has been assassinated and Marc Antony tries to persuade the crowd to find his killers. 

Using words to persuade people, giving them a good reason to do what you say, or to accept your argument, is known as 'rhetoric'. In this programme, we'll be hearing all about rhetoric and of course learning some related vocabulary as well. 

The art of rhetoric started with the ancient Greek philosophers. Later, during the Roman republic politicians and statemen used rhetoric in speeches given to crowds in the public square. 

Although technology has transformed the way we communicate since then, the art of rhetoric is still alive today. Modern politicians may prefer Twitter to the public square, but they still use persuasive language, including soundbites-short sentences or phrases giving a message in an easy to remember way. 

We'll hear more soon but first I have a question for you, Sam. Roman politicians used many rhetorical tricks to persuade people including the arguemntum ad hominum which was an attack on their opponent's moral character. Another was called the argumentum ad baculum- but what did it mean? Was it:

a) an argument based on logic   b) an argument based on emotion or c) an argument based on the stick?

Well, to persuade someone your argument needs to be logical, so I'll say a).

OK, we''ll find out the answer later. Whether you want someone to vote for you, or to buy what you're sellinig, rhetoric can make your message persuasive. During his career in the adverting industry, Sam Tatum learned a lot about persuading people. Here he explains the many uses of rhetoric to BBC World Service programme, The Way Factor. 

Rhetoric is persuasive language. We use it rally, to simplify the complex, to inspire and influence. It's important, I think, to identify what strategies maight be influencing us more than we think. By understanding the power of language in shaping perceptions, we can start tosee, 'I'm wondering why people are looking to be so concrete. Are we trying to pull the wool over our eyes on smething that's more far complex than we actually state?

As well as persuading people, Sam Tatum says rhetoric can be used to rally- to bring people together in support of a common goal. A recent example of this is the way politicians called the coronavirus our 'enemy'.

The words politicians choose, and the way they use them, can influence us more than we thin Sam Tatum says we should question whether political rhetoric is trying to pull the wool over our eyes, an informal way of saying trick or deceive us. 

But in the age of 24-hour news undates and non- stop Twitter, has the skill of making a thoughtful argument been lost?

Here's Kendal Philips, professor of political kphilosophy at Syracuse University, speaking to BBC World Service's, The Why Factor.

It's hard to analyse the arguemnt or reasoning of a tweet, 'cos 280 characters is not a way for me to lay out a logical argument with a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion, it's much easier to just use a two-word phrase or a hashtag that usually ends up adding to that kind of polemical division between my side and their side.