Ethos, Logos, Pathos

• Understanding the rhetorical situation underlying a written text helps us read between the lines, and fully understand the text.

Rhetorical Appeals:

• Ethos: “character”

  • expertise, knowledge, experience, sincerity

  • gives audience a reason to listen to the speaker

    • trustworthy, credible

    • EX: if you are talking to teenagers to convince them to not participate in underage drinking, you might bring in concerned parents, recovering alcoholics, or even behavioral professionals

  • Automatic Ethos: when a speaker off-rip has some form of credibility

• Logos: “embodied thought”

  • reason, rational ideas

    • having a clear main idea, thoughts, statistics, examples

    • requires considerable research

  • Conceding & Refuting

    • anticipating objections and opposing views

      • you agree (concede) that an opposing argument may be true, but deny (refute) the validity of the rest of the argument

      • combination of concession & refutation will strengthen your argument

      • this doesn’t mean that your argument is wrong. If you can show that you agree with part of the opposing argument, but still manage to defend your own side, it boosts credibility, and makes the argument strong.

• Pathos: appeal to emotions, values, desires

  • propagandistic purpose

  • more polemical (aggressive argument that tries to establish superiority) than persuasive

    • The Checkers Speech by Nixon

      • he brings up his dog, and his kids, which makes him more appealing

      • he wants to win over the audience, but later it was found that his speech more manipulative than anything else

Combining Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

Your argument isn’t strong with just one of these devices, you need to include all three. It will build a strong argument.

• EX: who better to speak about alcoholism, than a recovering alcoholic who also knows statistics?

  • being able to bring in the audience with emotion, but keep them with your facts, and logic, will make a strong argument.