Class 11

Class 11EWRT 2

AGENDA

• Discussion: Machiavelli "The Qualities of the Prince" • Biography• Rhetorical Strategies• Questions for Critical Reading

• Vocabulary

• Essay #2

Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence on May 3, 1469.

He is notable for his essays on politics, particularly his infamous treatise on power entitled The Prince.

He came form a political family. He held a privileged positionHe had a wife and sixteen children.

In 1494 Machiavelli became a clerk at the chancery at Adrian. Later, he became a secretary to the Council of Ten, which was the governing body in charge of diplomacy and military organization for the new Florentine republican government.

He observed the workings of foreign affairs firsthand. He met with other political leaders to see how their countries were ruled. He carried out several diplomatic missions to Germany, Spain, and other Italian city-states.

In 1512 the Medici family regained power in Florence, putting an end to republican rule. As a result, Machiavelli was forced out of his job and temporarily imprisoned. He returned to his country estate near San Casciano after his release and wrote several books on politics, including, On the Art of War, History of Florence, Discourses on Livy, and The Prince, which was dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici in an attempt to gain favor with the ruling family.

Machiavelli wrote a first version of The Prince in 1513, but it was not published until 1532—five years after his death.

Rhetorical Strategies

of Machiavelli

• Pragmatic (concerned with practical results).

• Gives directions; How-to Book• Brief and to the point• Uses historical precedents to support his

points• Appeals to common sense• Suggests alternate arguments and then

shows why they are wrong.• Gives the appearance of fairness and

thoroughness• Discusses opposite pairings, including both

sides of an issue• Compare and contrast

• Aphorism

Questions for Critical Reading

Machiavelli “The Qualities of the Prince”

Find support for your answer!

VocabularyExam 4:

Thursday, November 1

Vocabulary

• Ad hominem: "against the man"; attacking the arguer rather than the argument or issue.

• Appeal to tradition: a proposal that something should continue because it has traditionally existed or been done that way.

• Argument: a process of reasoning and advancing proof about issues on which conflicting views may be held; also, a statement or statements providing support for a claim.

• Authority: a respectable, reliable source of evidence.

Begging the question: the arguer proves his conclusion while assuming it to already be true. The premise for his argument is based on the truth of his conclusion. In other words, the argument assumes to be true what it is supposed to be proving.

Claim: the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying to prove.

Credibility: the audience's belief in the arguer's trustworthiness

Deduction: reasoning by which we establish that a conclusion must be true because the statements on which it is based are true

Ethos: the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in an argument that contribute to an audience's acceptance of the claim.

Euphemism: a pleasant or flattering expression used in place of one that is less agreeable but possibly more accurate.

Evidence: facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may consist of statistics, reports of personal experience, or views of experts.

Fallacy: an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence or incorrect inference.

False analogy: assuming without sufficient proof that if objects or processes are similar in some ways, then they are similar in other ways as well;

• Faulty use of authority: failing to acknowledge disagreement among experts or otherwise misrepresenting the trustworthiness of sources.

• Generalization: a statement of general principle derived inferentially from a series of examples.

• Hasty generalization: drawing conclusions from insufficient evidence.

• Inference: an interpretation of the facts.

• Motivational appeal: an attempt to reach an audience by recognizing their needs and values and how these contribute to their decision making.

• Non sequitur: "it does not follow"; using irrelevant proof to buttress a claim.

• Post hoc: mistakenly inferring that because one event follows another they have a causal relation; from post hoc ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of this"); also called "doubtful cause."

• Qualifier: a restriction placed on the claim to state that it may not always be true as stated.

• Refutation: an attack on an opposing view in order to weaken it, invalidate it, or make it less credible.

• Slanting: selecting facts or words with connotations that favor the arguer's bias and discredit alternatives.

• Slippery slope: predicting without justification that one step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second, generally undesirable step.

• Values: conceptions or ideas that act as standards for judging what is right or wrong, worthwhile or worthless, beautiful or ugly, good or bad.

Essay #2

•Discuss your options with your group.

•Which prompt will you choose?

HOMEWORK

• Post #21: How can we apply the philosophy of Machiavelli and/or Lao-Tzu to A Game of Thrones? Use textual evidence (excerpts of text) from both sources to prove your points. (Print and bring to class)

• Post #22 Essay #2 (1-2 pages: before Saturday) • Choose your topic from "Suggestions for Writing"

pages 32-33, prompts 1-6 or pages 50-51 prompts 1-5. Hard copy due Thursday OR Electronic copy due by noon on Saturday.

• Study Vocabulary for exam #4: Test Thursday