Chimal 1

Christian Chimal

Professor Ditch

ENGL 115

9 December 2020

Rhetorical Strategies Are the Core of An Argument?

Happiness is something that we can find from within ourselves. Studies through

Psychology, Minimalism, and Buddhism have shown that happiness comes from the mind. In the

excerpts from the Dalai Lama, Howard Cutler, Graham Hill, and Sonia Lyubomirsky, the authors

discuss happiness from different perspectives such as psychological, spiritual, and minimalistic.

The authors use the rhetorical strategies Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to support their argument by

providing outside sources, research, and human hardship to make their writing more convincing.

The excerpt from Sonia Lyubomirsky has the strongest argument because of her research, public

data, studies, and structure in the excerpt.

The authors establish credibility in different ways through research, discussions, data, and

other sources they provide in writing. In “How Happy Are You and Why,” Lyubomirsky uses a

wide range of research to show steps individuals can take to increase their level of happiness

(Lyubomirsky141). She also interviews three people for her study and quotes well known figures

like Aristotle, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Schulz providing different interpretations of

happiness. She includes studies about genes from the University of Minnesota, provides a chart,

and cites her evidence to contribute to her credibility as an author because she supports her

writing with research. Meanwhile in “The Sources of Happiness” Cutler brings “together

Buddhist spiritual practice and western psychology” (21). Cutler supports his argument with

research, friends, and a monk who practices the mastery of mental equanimity. Cutler interviews
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the Dalai Lama about happiness from a Buddhist perspective and two of his friends. He also

mentions research from a University in New York, and Wisconsin where public data was

collected. Cutler’s credibility is compromised because his research is based on friends rather than

the public and his interests in Buddhism and Western psychology made his interviews seem

biased. Then in “Living with Less. A Lot Less,” Hill develops minimalist designs and strategies

for living with less space, items, and energy (Hill 308). Hill talks about his experience as an

entrepreneur after selling his company and making a fortune. Hill uses research from U.C.L.A.

and Northwestern University including a report from the N.R.D.C. about global consumerism

being linked with problematic behavior and affecting the environment. Like Cutler’s argument,

Hill uses research about the environment and people having more than they need which connects

to his interest as a minimalist and environmentalist. In comparison to the other authors,

Lyubomirsky excels at establishing credibility because she supports her writing with research,

structure, and the perspectives of others. This compliments her use of Ethos because she has

more varied sources than Cutler, the Dalai Lama, and Hill.

The writers use research from different sources to support their reasoning and make a

sound argument. Lyubomirsky uses a variety of sources to support her argument with studies,

date, and research to provide a complete look of happiness. In her excerpt, she interviews three

people named Angela, Randy, and Shannon who grew up from different backgrounds. She also

includes studies from behavior geneticists and others from the University of Minnesota about the

genetics of two identical twin sisters and how genes play a role in happiness. She provides charts

and scales from studies and used data from Proper Insights & Analytics about happiness in

different generations to support her argument as a writer and psychologist. She backs up her

argument by providing data, research, and many sources to make her argument formal and
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convincing. Unlike in “The Sources of Happiness,” Cutler interviews two of his friends and the

Dalai Lama, but does not provide the names of his friends when he talks about their experiences

and outlooks on life. He provides research from a University in Wisconsin and New York, where

women were shown images of harsh living conditions and another where people did exercises

thinking about what they are glad not to be which helped them reflect on their lives and those

who are less fortunate (Cutler and the Dalai Lama 23). The studies showed that when people

reflect on those less fortunate, they tend to be more satisfied with their lives. Cutler supports his

argument with his interview with the Dalai Lama and his friends also including research from

other sources about perception and its influences on happiness. Cutler’s argument is lacking

evidence because he did not mention the names of his friends and wrote specifically about the

Dalai Lama’s interpretation of happiness and it makes his research questionable. Cutler’s

argument would have been stronger if he used better sources of research. In “Living with Less. A

Lot Less.” Hill says, “It took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the

inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less” (308). Hill talks

about the stress, work, anxiety, and energy it took to own a bigger house and more than he

needed. Hill mentions studies from U.C.L.A. researchers who observed 32 middle-class families

and found that all the mothers had high-stress hormone levels from dealing with their

belongings. He also mentions a report from the N.R.D.C. and the Northwestern University about

global consumerism and how we affect the environment. Hill supports his argument with

different sources and data pertaining to his lifestyle. Hill’s use of research could have been better

if he used data from a bigger population rather than just 32 families and did not use research

based on his lifestyle. Lyubomirsky’s use of Logos, compared to the other authors, is the
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strongest because her data, research, and studies focus on several factors of happiness creating a

sound argument.

In writing, the authors appeal to the reader using emotional text to persuade their

audience that their argument is strong. In Lyubomirsky's excerpt she interviews Angela and

Randy about their hardships in life such as abuse, breast cancer, suicide, divorce, and children

(Lyubomirsky 180-181). Angela faced abuse, divorce, the death of her Mother, and the life of a

single parent without child support. Randy faced divorce, the death of his father, and an uneasy

relationship with his mother. She also interviews Shannon who grew up in a stable home and did

not face hardships like Randy and Angela. Lyubomirsky talks about Angela and Randy’s

optimism making the best of their current situation, while Shannon seemed to think negatively

about her life. Lyubomirsky appeals to the readers using research that inflicts emotions and

supports her argument by providing different people for the data given. Similarly, in “The

Sources of Happiness,” Cutler interviews two of his friends about their experience and outlooks

on life. He talks to a female friend who retired by the age of thirty and how she became wealthy

but did not feel any happier. He also talks to a male friend who discovered he has AIDS and

talked about how it took a long time to come to terms that he has this disease (Cutler and the

Dalai Lama 21). Cutler supports his argument by using emotional text to inflict the emotions of

the reader but could have made it better by providing more sources other than his friend and a

monk. Unlike in “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Hill mentions that researchers from U.C.L.A.

observed 32 middle-class and found that all the mothers had spiked hormone stress levels from-

dealing with their belongings (Hill 310). He also uses research from the N.R.D.C. which

talked about global consumerism and how it leads to the acidification of oceans, melting glaciers,

and global temperature increase. Hill uses emotional text about mothers and the environment to
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inflict the emotions of the reader, but his argument would have been better if he talked about the

possibility of animals being affected and provided more data on families. Lyubomirsky excels at

emotionally appealing to the reader because she includes more data, research, and information

about human hardship compared to the other authors.

In conclusion, Sonia Lyubomirsky demonstrates the best use of the rhetorical strategies

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos because she provides many sources, data, research, and more

information on human hardship to make her writing more convincing. In comparison to Hill, the

Dalai Lama, and Cutler, Lyubomirsky’s writing has the strongest support system of credible

sources, valid arguments, and emotional text to appeal to the reader. She also provides charts,

scales, and data that gives an in-depth look of happiness, making her the most persuasive. In

writing it is important to use all the rhetorical strategies to create a compelling argument. Sonia

Lyubomirsky is a splendid example of an author that uses the strategies to make a well

structured, balanced, and argumentative excerpt.

Works Cited

Cutler, Howard and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. "The Sources of Happiness" Pursuing

Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader Second Edition, edited by Parfit, Matthew and

Skorczewski, Dawn, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2019, pp. 21-32.

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Hill, Graham. "Living with Less. A Lot Less." Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader

Second Edition, edited by Parfit, Matthew and Skorczewski, Dawn, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2019,

pp. 308-312.

Lyubomirsky, Sonia. "How Happy Are You and Why?" Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford

Spotlight Reader Second Edition, edited by Parfit, Matthew and Skorczewski, Dawn, Bedford/St.

Martin's, 2019, pp. 179-195