ABSTRACT
Because of the role in thinking and decision making, storytelling, metaphor-making, and analogizing form the core of communication. This is aptly illustrated in cognitive science's depiction of the mind in the statement that the mind is a computer and the resulting inferential leap that thinking is akin to information processing. Aristotle defined rhetoric as "an ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion". This conception of rhetoric works in tandem with cognitive science. Expanding the cognitive science explanation that human thinking is primarily a matter of categorizing, the rhetorical perspective values both the ability to analogize and the ability to differentiate. Because mental categories are embedded not only through individual experience but also through shared history, language, and culture, the legal advocate may be able to persuade by taking advantage of easy matches. Cognitive scientists suggest that one of the major motivations is to avoid the mental discomfort created by conflicting impressions.
