Reasoning in Persuasion
The last time I was in a persuasive discussion, I was trying to convince my parents to register and vote during the 2008 presidential elections. I used a couple different kinds of reasonings in order to persuade them successfully. First, I tried using inductive reasoning by presenting specific examples of all our friends and family who had registered and were enthusiastic about voting. This reasoning didn't work, mainly because my evidence to argue my point appealed to popularity. Being a major fallacy in evidence, my argument didn't score many points with the parents. I then tried using deductive reasoning to convince them. I reasoned that if it is a right of american citizens to vote for their own president, and if my parents are american citizens, then they should actively vote in the elections. This seemed to work better and they agreed that it was definitely a privilege to be living in a country where freedom of expression meant that they could voice their consent for the nation too. I, finally, used casual reasoning to predict that if enough people voted for "X" nominee then he may actually win. This reasoning also went well for my parents as they realized the importance of being even a small part of something as significant as picking the next US president.
I also tried to convince a couple of my in-laws to vote. The same reasonings were used, and the same reaction occurred. It's amazing how important your argument can be when you are trying to convince someone to agree with your viewpoint on something. One illogical argument or fallacious evidence and the entire conclusion that you are trying to draw can fall apart.
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1 comment:
Hello classmate:
I enjoyed reading your blog post about your persuasive conversation with your relatives. I can definitely appreciate your approach to the situation. I have found that many people are so passionate about politics that their arguments often lose rationality (even before this election and all of its magnitude). Your argument, on the other hand, seems logical and unbiased and these are, in my opinion, important qualities that a persuasive speech or conversation should possess. It seems like you also used an emotional appeal in your argument to convince your parents; I am impressed on how you were able to use this appeal and draw the line so as to not commit a fallacy.
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