Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and the Fallacies

Ethos (def)

the act of appealing to the speaker's or writer's authority as a means of persuasion

Ethos (ex)

As a doctor I am qualified to tell you....

Pathos (def)

the act of evoking emotions in the audience or readers to make your point

Pathos (ex)

I have dream speech by MLK

Logos (def)

the act of appealing to the logic of the audience or readers

Logos (ex)

A fruit juice commercial that hypes he vitamins and calories

Ad Hominem

Rejects, criticizes viewpoint based on personal, ethnic or physical.

Straw man

Attacks different subject rather than topic being discussed

Appeal to Ignorance

something must be true because it cannot be proven false

False Dilemma

focuses on two extremes.

Slippery Slope

certain courses of action will lead to future chain of events

Circular arguement

repeats an argument assumed before

Hasty generalization

Based on a few examples instead of a substantial proof

Red Herring

uses confusion or distraction to shift attention away from topic often contain an unimportant fact or idea

Appeal to Hypocrisy

deflects criticism away from oneself.

Casual Fallacy

incorrectly linking cause to effect. Mistaken something for cause because it came first.

Sunk Cost

When the amount of money or time invested outweighs the bad

Appeal to Authority

when speaker conveys an opinion that is not based on their knowledge or experience but association or purported knowledge

Equivocation

the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself

Appeal to Pity

appeal to their emotion to act more empathetic

Bandwagon

based on the assumption that the opinion of the majority is valid