The Power of the Canons of Rhetoric

Chapter three of Envision, “Composing Arguments”, continues to further explain the aspects of rhetoric and how it is used in writing. In chapter three, the authors describe the canons of rhetoric, “the principles by which all writing, speaking, or visual arguments operate.” Throughout chapter three the authors use photographic example to describe how the canons of rhetoric work

The first canon described is invention, which happens when you to assemble words with the purpose of trying to persuade the audience. By phrasing words a certain way, an author or artist is able to manipulate what is going on. Figure 3.2 on page 67, which shows a group of homeless African Americans waiting in line under a billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” uses invention to its advantage by cropping out surrounding details and focusing on the billboard and the people, the photographer was not only able to document what was going on but was also able to make a great commentary about race and culture in America.

Arrangement, the second canon described, helps form what the reader’s response will be because of the way how information is arranged. Arrangement helps give the argument structure and can do so in several ways. It can be done through a block structure, cause and effect or a chronological structure. Without using some of the strategies of arrangement, an argument can fall apart and lose meaning because the ideas trying to be expressed become too confusing in the unstructured text.

Style, the third canon, is described as “how an author expresses ideas in an appropriate manner.” The book goes on to describe how a persona, an intentionally invented version of an author, can help persuade people into believing what they have to say. On CBS’s “The Doctors” each host wears either a white coat or scrubs. By doing this, they make themselves appear more like professionals and knowledgeable about what they talk about on the show. If they did not, then people would be less likely to take what they are saying seriously. Would you take medical advice from someone who had been on a reality TV show? Probably not, but because Travis Stork, who appeared on “The Bachelor”, wears clothing typically worn practicing doctors, he appears more knowledge able in what he is talking about. If he did not wear those clothes, people would be less likely to take him seriously. By carefully crafting how an argument is stet up, an author is more likely to be able to make a good argument as opposed to one that had just been thrown together. Chapter three taught valuable lessons on how to compose a good argument by using the canons of rhetoric.