Quick Write

What would someone have to say to convince you to change your mind? Write for two minutes.

Vocabulary

Egocentric thinking means that we think through our own perspectives. We only have our perspective.

Egocentric

  1. having or regarding the self or the individual as the center of all things
  2. having little or no regard for interests, beliefs, or attitudes other than one’s own; self-centered

Intellectual Empathy means being able to think through other peoples perspectives. Seeing an issue through more perspectives than your own. This is very important for critical thinking since we want to consider an issue from as many perspectives as possible to better see and understand an issue.

We only have our perspective and experience informing how we perceive issues. Critical thinking requires that we get as many perspectives in order to become more informed. We need to place ourselves in others perspectives in order to see if our perspective if fair, just, or biased.

kkktoddrobertsonphoto
Photo by Todd Robertson, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Our perspective might be biased, racist, prejudiced, incorrect, or ignorant of facts.

Intro to Rhetoric

Language is an art form. Here is the Wikipedia definition of Rhetoric.

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, wherein a writer or speaker strives to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations.

Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric

“The faculty of observing, in any given case, the available means of persuasion“

ethos pathos

Ethos: Appeals to Ethics, Credibility or Character. Ethics, ethical, trustworthiness or reputation, style/tone. The credibility of the speaker persuades.

Pathos: Appeals to Emotion. Emotional or imaginative impact, stories, values. Uses emotional response to persuade an audience.

Logos: Appeals to logic. Persuade by reason and evidence.