“Ought I make this speech in the first place? Why do I want to convince? What are my true motives, devoid of pleasant self-deception. Are these motives virtuous? Are they base?”

Far too many times, “men” try to learn “how” without bothering to contemplate the far more important question of “why”. Arete is fundamental to manliness. Without it, we merely have civil beastliness.

Justice Scalia may owe some of rhetorical prowess to his four years as a member of the Philodemic Society of Georgetown University, one of the oldest collegiate oratorical clubs in the United States and an environment in which the art of classical rhetoric is practiced weekly.

For any who may be interested, the links below lead to the Philodemic’s website and to a Wikipedia article on the society:
http://philodemic.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodemic_Society

Ttere is one important topic I would like to raise. Whenever you do the talk there is always a message you want to bring across. Your arguments, their sequence or presentation depends on that.

Out of this point there are two types of talks. One where message is in line with the audience, their beliefs or knowledge. This the kind of talk Linkoln delivered in your example. It is the talk to reinforce the message that is already in someones head.

However another one, and far more challenging, is when message says something alien to the people listening. It can range from pure novelty of the subject to pure anger at the matter.

If I see that I need to deliver “first type” of talk I always consider if I can do something instead of it. Talking the same message to the people already agreeing to it is a waste of audience and my time. If I need to do a reminder I will probably choose more subtle form or talk directly with the key people only.

If it the second… Now that’s the most fun part. One thing I do often is try to prepare a talk as a dialog with an opponent. Another — try to think about different plans of delivering the same message. Even if I will only choose plan A, preparing plans B C or even D gives me a room to maneuver in case I see the audience not responding. This is also important because in reality none of your plans will stand the real encounter with the audience :)

Political speeches far too often are “first type” talks. Mainly because scaring your voter in the middle of an election campaign is a Bad Thing.

A quick read on the subject of logic that will benefit everyone is A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston. Intended as an introductory rulebook – as opposed to a bloated textbook – it offers simple everyday rules in an easy to understand manner.

MN Pilot