Affect_(rhetoric)
Affect (rhetoric)
Emotional feeling preceding cognition
Affect, as a term of rhetoric, is the responsive, emotional feeling (affect) that precedes cognition.[1] Affect differs from pathos as described by Aristotle as one of the modes of proof[2] and pathos as described by Jasinski as an emotional appeal[3] because it is “the response we have to things before we label that response with feelings or emotions.”[4]
In further exploring this term, scholars recognized affect’s rhetorical role in literature,[5] photography,[6][7] marketing[8] and memory.[9] In 2012, Rogers described how author W. E. B. Du Bois used the structure of his work, The Souls of Black Folk, to affect his audience into feeling shame.[10] In 2016, Brunner and Deluca proposed the term affective winds to describe “the force of images that moves people to engage and interact by exploring the affective potency of visual arguments.”[11] Affective winds were part of the rhetorical persuasiveness of images shared through social media. In a different sense, Harold described how the Target Corporation’s advertising used aura and affect to democratize the appearance of some products.[12] Affect has also been identified as a conduit through which rhetorical memories can be internalized.[13]
Drawing from philosophy, some[14][15] rhetorical studies of affect have followed Martin Heidegger's articulation of Dasein which posits "affect" as the ground of reason. Others[16] follow post-structuralist and post-Heideggerian insights to follow affect's influence on rhetorical canons and digital rhetoric.