Building a persuasive argument

Fridays are for philosophy - 7/17/15
Aristotle, and W. Rhys Roberts. Rhetoric. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004. Kindle Electronic Edition.
Book II, chapter 1.

Aristotle has reviewed evidence and building arguments. “But since rhetoric exists to affect the giving of decisions - the hearers decide between one political speaker and another, and a legal verdict is a decision - the orator must not only try to make the argument of his speech demonstrative and worthy of belief; he must also make his own character look right and put his hearers, who are to decide, into the right frame of mind” (Aristotle II.1, B 1377b). The ways Aristotle would emphasize to this end are “good sense, good moral character, and goodwill” (Aristotle II.1, B 1378a). People who have good sense are likely to be reliable. If people are of good morals they are unlikely to mislead others. If they are of good will toward the hearers they will be well accepted as trustworthy. If the rhetorician can establish himself in these ways his arguments will likely be accepted.