Chapter ten of Epstein, is a short chapter about the appeal to emotion in an arguments. According to Epstein, an appeal to emotion is basically a premise that where you should believe or do something that you feel about it. In this chapter, there are several types of appeal to emotions that were cover. I found three of them is be quite interesting. The first is appeal to pity, it is when someone feels sorry for the other person, oneself, or people. Second is an appeal to spite, where it bring in evidences to go against the claims. Third is appealing to fear, which is mostly when someone or something is trying to manipulate others; mostly used by politicians and advertisers.
Here is an example of appealing to fear:
Bob: You should stop smoking.
Jack: Why?
Bob: Smoking will eventually causes you to have lung cancer and you will die quicker.
I found these types of appeals to emotion to be interesting because it mostly happens to us daily.
I agree with you in that appeals to fear are definitely common in everyday advertisements and discussions. Rather than give facts to support an argument, many people rely on scaring other individuals into doing or saying what they want. Your example displays appeal to fear very clearly. However, the response Bob gives Jack is actually true. Most smokers are more prone lung cancers as well as shorter life spans. In other examples of appeal to fear in the media, people over exaggerate facts to a point that almost makes them false. In your example, Bob uses appeal to fear effectively to explain why his friend Jack should stop smoking.
ReplyDeleteHi! I also found this chapter to be interesting as well. Appeal to pity, fear and spite are used commonly throughout society. The example you had used makes it clear on how appeal to fear is used and how it works. I use that same statement when I see my father with a cigarette in his hand but I sound scarier. I explain every little detail that happens if he starts to smoke again. When I explain it to him it’s like he is reliving his past misfortunes that happened because of smoking excessively. Appeal to fear is a very effective way to get a certain point across to people.
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