Links to rhetorical tools:

Here are links to the rhetorical tools used in this class:

Schemes & Tropes -- Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca -- Fallacies -- Burke -- Rhetorical Toolbox -- Conspiracy Rhetorics

Friday, February 17, 2017

How to Make ESP Work For You


Fallacy
Quote/Page Number
Usage
Appeal to Consequences
Introduction Page; “And because your conscious mind has been trained to reject certain anomalies – it even rights optically upside down images – you simply cannot “see” this design objectively without special training. ESP, too, may at first be confusing to your ‘rational’ …until you decide to let Harold Sherman put ESP to work FOR YOU!”
This quote is from the very first page of this book right after the cover. I believe it is Harold Sherman, the author, who is writing out this experiment for the reader to try so that he can convince them further of what he is about to write about for the next 278 pages. So in this intro, he is saying that our minds are rejecting the idea of optical allusions and whether we can see them or not. But even though this concept is confusing towards our minds, at least we have Harold Sherman here to help make ESP work for us.
Bandwagon
“All of us have within us an incredible mental power that can change our lives overnight. If you are ready to explore this miraculous “New” dimension of your mind, read this book.”
Okay so the author is trying to make it seem like everyone is reading this book and that it gives us this new outlook of our mind and what we accomplish. So the author starts off by saying that everyone can do these good things with our mental power and it can change lives and whatnot. He then says how we should try reading this book if we want to unlock the same powers. Which is when he alludes to the fact that so many other people must have read this book in order for them to realize the dimensions in their minds.


2 comments:

  1. I see where you're coming from with the quotes in relation to the fallacy. I haven't read the book or anything but you could also look at the cover and probably find the same fallacies. While looking at the introduction were you able to sight anything else? If so I would use to introduction and the summary at the back of the book to build your argument (I still have to go look at your rhetorical devices).

    ReplyDelete
  2. The author seems to make broad and spectacular claims. Are these spectacular claims acceptable to most readers? What differentiates them from other instances where a product makes spectacular claims like "lose twenty pounds and one week without diet or exercise!"? Why are some outlandish claims accepted and others rejected outright? Do these claims prey on desperate people and if so, what does that say about the people who would read and be convinced by this book?

    ReplyDelete