Professor Deirdre McCloskey’s lecture focused on her theory that the majority of communication/ language is persuasion. According to McCloskey not only is her theory of persuasion relative to the communication field but it is also applicable to the fields of science which is normally associated with qualitative and quantitative works of study and not persuasion. I found her theory of persuasion as the primary function not only in the communication field and our everyday lives but also in the fields of science interesting.

In chapter 1 we learned that rhetoric was used in the pre modern era as a craft of persuasion. We also learned that in the communication studies of today, the studies of humanities focuses on a historical and critical approach while social science focuses on qualitative and quantitative reasoning. According to Prof. McCloskey this split doesn't exist and is nonsense. Now if we take the unconventional approach of Prof. McCloskey, then everything we are taught regarding the studies of communication, humanities, sciences, etc. all boils down to being taught how to be an excellent persuader. The more Prof. McCloskey stated the reasons for her theory of persuasion, the more I found myself agreeing with her. Maybe I help to validate her theory because her lecture was persuasive enough for me to agree with her, but as I apply her theory to my everyday encounters I couldn’t help but to agree with her.

Prof. McCloskey stated that economist would much rather be referred to as scientist when in actuality the majority of what they do involves persuasion. They try to persuade people to believe their theories, views, ideas, etc. about any given subject. How many of us do that today? At some point in our lives we always find ourselves having to persuade someone about something, and sometimes we succeed in our persuasions and sometimes we fail.

I remember when I was younger my dad told me that when I turned 16 I could have a boyfriend. When that day came I was so excited, although I didn’t date anyone right away I knew that I could if I wanted to. One day a senior asked me to be his prom date and of course I was happy and couldn’t wait to remind my dad of his promise to allow me to date when I turned 16. As I told my father about the senior and prom, he told me NO before I could even finish my sentence. Upset, I decided to remind him of his promise and the fact that I am a great daughter and great student high GPA, etc. My dad told me that all of what I said was nice and I still can’t go to prom with a senior, and added that the only time I will be buying a prom dress will be for my senior prom. Needless to say, that attempt at persuasion was a complete failure. Yet, other times have been a total success.

 When I applied to college my personal statement was written in a way to persuade the admissions board to accept me at their school because we will be a perfect fit. When applying for a specific job I want, I use the interview to persuade the interviewer to hire me, because I’m what their company is missing. As I said before we have all tried to persuade someone at some point, and as time progresses we usually become better skilled in the art of persuasion, that’s just a few examples of how it was used in my life. I agree with Prof. McCloskey’s theory that communication and the sciences and humanities are basically creating skilled persuaders, however I also feel that it shouldn't be trivialized to just that since there is more to the studies of each field than just persuading someone to agree with you.

Tameshia M.