Essay About Main Rhetorical Motives And Extra Plane

Argumentation
Argumentation
Why do we argue? In a 1970 article entitled “A Motive
View of Communication”, (The Quarterly Journal of
Speech, 131-139), Walter R. Fisher asserts that there
are four main rhetorical motives as to why we argue.
He states that because there is a natural connection
between how one’s perceived motive and the response
one receives, one’s perception determines the nature
of the argument. To better categorize these motives,
Fisher argues that there are essentially four
rhetorical motives: affirmation, reaffirmation,
purification, and subversion. These four cover almost
every kind of rhetoric out there save one, but more on
that later.
“Woolf, what is affirmation?” As luck would have it,
the first of Fisher’s motives is affirmation.
Basically, affirmation is the speaker trying to
instill within you a novel concept or ideal. Through
whatever rhetorical tactics they choose, the speaker
wants you to believe something new and is generally
the way that anything gets accomplished. This is
exemplified quite well in Former President Ronald
Regan’s “Remarks at the Brandenbug Gate”, (West
Berlin, Germany, June 12, 1987). “General Secretary
Gorbachev, if you seek peaceCome here to this gate!
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear
down this wall!” Regan’s powerful words had but one
main purpose, to convince Gorbachev to destroy the
Berlin Wall and unify Germany.
“Woolf, how can I inspire people?” you may ask. Well,
in 1942, while the world was griped by war, FDR gave
us a shining example of reaffirmation, “We are calling
for new plants and…more men and more women to run
them…We are coming to realize that one extra plane
or extra tank or extra gun or extra ship completed
tomorrow may, in a few months, …make the difference
between life and death for some of our own fighting
men.” (Franklin Deleno Roosevelt, Fireside Chat,
February 23, 1942) In this excerpt from his 20th
Fireside Chat, FDR was reinforcing the patriotism and
work ethic already held by his audience, this is
reaffirmation.
“Woolf, that’s all well and good if you want to get
things done or inspire your audience, but what if I’ve
royally messed up and need to fix things? Is there a
rhetorical motive for me?” Yes, yes there is. It’s
called purification, and, just as the term would
suggest, it’s used to purify your damaged reputation
or to to simply refine it. Former President William
Jefferson Clinton thanked God that this rhetorical
motive existed on August 17 of 1998 in his formal
apology to the American people,