Posts Tagged ‘HIV’

• 2006-07 Winner: “Persuasion for a Better Cause” by Ashley Thoreson

  Date: 2008.05.21 | Category: Selected Essays | Response: 0

  “Persuasion for a Better Cause” by Ashley Thoreson PDF

  Alan Gross, professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, proposes two types of rhetoric that authors use to strengthen their arguments: logos and pathos.  These rhetorical strategies can be found in many articles, including those of scientific texts.  While scientific texts are thought to be objective, the presence of these rhetorical strategies is proof that most texts are actually subjective. Logos is an appeal to logic through the use of facts including mathematical, scientific, or statistical data to support an argument. Pathos is an appeal to emotion.  These two rhetorical strategies are effectively used in Peter Piot’s piece in Scientific American titled: “AIDS: A Global Response.”  In the article, Piot argues that there needs to be a shift in focus on research and funding from developed countries to developing countries regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic currently affecting the entire globe.  This paper will first address how through detailed statistics regarding the spread of the disease, Piot convinces readers that their attention needs to be refocused to stopping the spread of HIV in developing countries.  Then, I will address how through pathos, Piot communicates a sense of urgency to his readers and involves them personally in an issue that they are geographically detached from.  This is significant because it opens up the genre of scientific writing to subjective arguments; the article wields both facts and appeals to emotion in order to reprioritize scientific research.

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