The Keys of Legal Rhetoric: A Handbook for Lawyers - Paperback

by Gianluca Sposito (Author)

A practical aid that will allow the reader to understand classical rhetoric whilst focusing on the needs of modern jurists.

Effective forensic communication cannot be achieved in an extemporaneous fashion or without preliminary preparation: communication has to be shaped by studying rhetoric, psychology and paraverbal and non-verbal communication. Knowing and being able to use rhetoric allows you to organize your thinking in a technically valid way and deliver persuasive speech. This book represents a practical aid that will allow the reader to understand classical rhetoric whilst focusing on the needs of modern jurists.

Gianluca Sposito (1973) is an Italian lawyer and scholar. He has been teaching "Legal Argumentation and Forensic Rhetoric" at the University of Urbino since 2004. He is one of Italy's leading experts on rhetoric and communication.

SUMMARY

Introduction - 1. The pillars of forensic eloquence. The role of classical rhetoric - "Regulated" eloquence. Organization of the speech. Lógos, páthos and êthos - The parts of persuasive speech - The introductory part (exordium) - Presentation of the facts (narratio) - Argumentation (argumentatio) - The epilogue (peroratio) - Organization of the arguments (dispositio) - The linguistic and expressive form (elocutio). The virtues of verbal expression (virtutes elocutionis) - The rhetorical skills of the forensic speaker - 2. Rhetorical figures and schemes - 2.1. Rhetorical figures and classification systems - 2.2. Classification by speaker's goals - 2.3. To accentuate - Emphasis - Hyperbole - 2.4. To allude - Allusion - 2.5. To attenuate - Litotes - Euphemism - 2.6. To compare - Comparison - Simile - 2.7. To oppose - Antithesis - Oxymoron - 2.8. To create - Metaphor - Metonymy - Synecdoche - Periphrasis - Antonomasia - Synesthesia - 2.9. To digress - Digression - Parenthesis - Prosapodosis or subnexio - 2.10. To query - Dubitatio - Sermocinatio - Percontatio - 2.11. To dramatize - Apostrophe - Exclamation - 2.12. To mask - Simulation and dissimulation - Antiphrasis - Irony and sarcasm - 2.13. To order - Anastrophe and hyperbaton - Epiphrase - Hysteron proteron - 2.14. To repeat - Anaphora - Polysyndeton 2.14.3. Epiphora - Symploce - Polyptoton - Epanalepsis - Epizeuxis - Anadiplosis - Climax - Alliteration - Homeoteleuton - 2.15. To sentence - Sententia - Maxim - Aphorism - Proverb - 2.16. To subtract - Brachyology, conciseness or brevitas - Percursio - Ellipse - Preterition - Aposiopesis or reticence - Asyndeton - 2.17. To explain - Commoratio - Expolitio - Interpretatio - Definition - Epanorthosis or correctio - 3. Argumentative fallacies - 3.1. Introduction and definition - 3.2. A good argument. Classification of fallacies - 3.3. Semantic fallacies - Lexical ambiguity. Fallacy of the fourth term - Structural ambiguity. Amphiboly. Fallacy of accent- Vagueness. The paradox of Sorites - 3.4. Emotional fallacies - Argumentum ad baculum (appeal to force) - Argumentum ad metum (appeal to fear) - Argumentum ad misericordiam (appeal to pity) - Argumentum ad hominem - Poisoning the Well - Argumentum ad populum (appeal to common belief) - 3.5. Other relevant fallacies - Argumentum ad verecundiam (appeal to authority) - Argumentum ad ignorantiam (appeal to ignorance) - Red herring (irrelevant conclusion) - Straw man fallacy - Plurium interrogationum (complex question) - Argumentum ad consequentiam (appeal to consequences of a belief) - Petitio principii (circular logic) - Secundum quid (hasty generalization) - False precision (over precision or fake precision) - 4. Visual rhetoric - 4.1. The visual - support and topic - 4.2. Visual rhetorical tools in the American criminal trial - 4.3. Visual rhetorical devices in the Italian criminal trial - 4.4. Limitations and problems of visual rhetoric. Concluding remarks