Ethos Pathos And Persuasion

Persuasion began in greece under the writings of Aristotle. He used the concepts of ethos (author), logos (text), pathos (audience), kairos (setting), and telos (purpose) to help explain how rhetoric functions (Purdue OWL, 2018). Rhetoric is defined as the the art of speaking or writing effectively through the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication and persuasion (Webster, 2018). Aristotle argued these five basic components are something all rhetorical situations have. For example, think about a presidential campaign and how they persuade an audience. The author, whether that be the speech writer or the presidential candidate themselves, must have a specific purpose in mind when writing the speech (ie. vote for me) so they

can convey the right information through the use of logos (ie. lower tax rates). Setting is also important because should a Republican candidate spend their time trying to convey this information to a majority Democratic state, or would their efforts be better put someone else, in a Republican or swing state? Over the years, the general public’s understanding of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals have changed slightly, and are typically focused primarily as ethos, pathos, and logos. Under these three appeals, researchers argue there are three different types of persuasion all provoking different responses according to the speakers needs.
These components, ethos, pathos, and logos, are used to persuade different types of audiences in different manners.

In current day understandings, ethos refers to the author’s character, ethics, and believability as an author (Higgins and Walker, 2012). It is also used to show the audience that the author is worth listening to, in this case, it would be beneficial for a author who is trying to convey ethos to introduce their specific expertise in the field that allows them to convey information about this topic. Ethos can be strategically developed by choosing specific language and vocabulary that is appropriate for the type of audience and topic the author is choosing to write about, as well as sounding fair and unbiased about the topic (Smith, 2004). When using ethos, it is important for the person to sound like an expert in the field, therefore proper grammar and syntax is recommended. An example of persuasion through the manipulation of ethos is when a political candidate speaks about foreign affairs and war after introducing himself as a veteran. The audience would take this information and be more understanding that as a veteran, this leader would not act without cause because they had been in that situation before, therefore the audience finds trust in the speaker’s expertise in the

field.
Pathos, on the other hand is an appeal to the audience’s emotions.

Authors primarily use pathos to invoke feelings of sympathy or pity from an audience, or primarily make the audience feel what the author wants them to feel. Pathos can be used to provoke any type of emotional response from an audience, an example of another emotion targeted by authors/ speakers is anger. Anger is targeted in many types or persuasive climates, but a good example of when anger is used is during a political speech or even protest. During these events, speakers often will yell information to the audience and show how displeased they are, so change should be made! Seeing a leader with these feelings allows the audience to also have this feeling, which leads to persuasion through emotions. Overall, pathos can be strategically developed through the use of meaningful language, a proper emotional tone, and stories that evoke an emotional

response.
Logos is the third and final appeal to rhetoric that is commonly discussed. Logos is the appeal to logic, through which the author uses means of logic or reason to persuade an audience. Typically, an author will use logos by citing facts, statistics, historical examples, or authorities on a specific subject that is important to the audience. Logos is used when the audience is looking to learn something and to be persuaded by fact, this is commonly used by politicians when they want an audience to know what changes they have made in the past, or the current climate of the country’s economic system. Simply stating facts is not enough to be persuading an audience through logos, the author must first have an argument they are wanting support for (ie. candidate A is better than candidate B) and then through the use of logos the author will use facts to explain why they believe this.