The Tyranny of Public Discourse

Abraham Lincoln's Six-Element Antidote for Meaningful and Persuasive Writing

David Hirsch, Dan Van Haften

• Publisher: Savas Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781940669922
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

"The ultimate teacher of fact-based, reasoned rhetoric . . . A nice dose of American history makes learning the groundbreaking technique fun." —Nerida F. Ellerton and McKenzie A. Clements, authors on writings of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln
 
Are you satisfied with the current state of public discourse? The almost unanimous response from people across the nation is a loud and emphatic "No!"
 
The reply is always the same regardless of politics. Today's public discourse typically starts with a "conclusion" and goes downhill from there. If there are talking heads, argument begins instantly and typically runs in circles. This is a dangerous path for a society that depends upon civility and virtue to survive. The Tyranny of Public Discourse addresses what is one of the most important issues of our time.
 
This book can teach anyone how to use logic and reason to create persuasive writing. A byproduct of this is the civility that will ensue with an elevated public discourse. The Tyranny of Public Discourse establishes the six elements of a proposition as a verbal form of the scientific method—something Abraham Lincoln knew and used routinely. His logic and reason are so well known that he is quoted today more than 150 years after his death. Learning the six elements and how to use them to discuss any topic at any time is not only fascinating, but fairly easy to understand and implement. This book sets it all out, step-by-step and color coded, from beginning to end.
 
The Tyranny of Public Discourse, complete with 21 diagrams on how to structure your logic, is the book you have been waiting for. The time is short, and the hour is now.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Pyramids
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Conversion
• Introduction
• 1 Enunciation: Why Are We Here?
• 2 Exposition: What Needs to be Investigated?
• 3 Specification: The Hypothesis
• 4 Construction: Array the Evidence
• 5 Proof: Confirm the Proposed Inference
• 6 Conclusion: What Was Demonstrated?
• 7 The Method is the Message
• 8 What’s in a Name?
• 9 Letter to Ulysses S. Grant
• 10 Lincoln’s Farewell Address
• 11 The Investigation
• 12 Writing
• 13 General Principles
• 14 Credibility is Everything
• 15 Collaborate
• 16 Freedom
• 17 Demarcation Exercises
• 18 Hints for Demarcation Exercises
• 19 Suggested Demarcations
• 20 A Language of Science for Human Issues
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Author