The Three Canons of Invention and the Near-death Experience Essay

Invention is the division of rhetoric that rhetors use to find arguments. The three approaches to invention are kairos, stasis theory, and the topic method. I am going to apply them here to support my belief in the near-death experience. When speaking to an audience, I must use kairos. I have to take into consideration what information is relevant to my audience. From there I can develop a persuasive argument on the near-death experience. Here I will give some examples of the points I need to make when arguing from a kairotic stance. First, I have to realize there will be some skeptics in the audience. I will address them by assuring that there is no pattern in who has near-death experiences. People from different backgrounds have had them, no matter their culture or belief system, religion, race or education. These people have not necessarily lived a "good" or "bad" life according to their society's standards. This information should convince the audience that anyone is vulnerable to a near-death experience. Another way I can persuade the audience is by sharing true accounts from people who have experienced near-death experiences. An even better approach would be to bring in some of these people. The information may be more believable coming straight from the ones who had these experiences. Stasis theory consists of a set of questions that will help me, as the rhetor, understand where differences lie between my audience and myself. Conjecture is the first stasis. The near-death experience does exist. It was introduced in The Bible. Saint Paul claimed that he was taken from his broken body up to Heaven. He later returned to his repaired body. These two aspects are practical, while th... ...es the greater and lesser impacts of near-death experiences. Leaving the body for an impossible period of time (more than a day) is greater than the norm. Seeing a flash of light, or something else occurring while in the body is lesser than the norm. The final step of this method includes the possible and the impossible. Near-death experiences may prove the possibility of life after death. It is impossible to choose to have a near-death experience. In the future it will be possible to know what causes near-death experiences. The three canons of invention and the way in which I applied the near-death experience to them should have persuaded my audience to believe me. One commonplace that relates to this issue is, "I almost died and went to Heaven." This slogan goes to say that people have believed in the near-death experience for quite some time.